34 Assam pilgrims to reach Guwahati today, over 100 still stuck in Puri

GUWAHATI: Altogether 34 pilgrims from Assam, who had moved out of Puri a day before Fani hit Odisha on Friday, are all set to reach Guwahati on Sunday. However, over 100 others from the state are still stuck in the temple city.
"The state government has taken steps to bring those people still stuck in Odisha back to Assam according to their convenience," a government statement said on Saturday.
Hrishikesh Goswami, media adviser to chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, said the state government is in touch with Odisha to ensure that visitors stuck due to cyclonic storm do not face any inconvenience. "It has been learned that all tourists and pilgrims from the state are safe and secure in Odisha," the statement added.
The 34 pilgrims from Nalbari district and Baihata Chariali in Kamrup (Rural) district reached Puri on April 30. But they had to leave the temple city on a special train to Howrah on May 2. After they reached Howrah, they were put up at the Assam Bhavan in Kolkata. But on Thursday night, the pilgrims had a harrowing time after a train ticket examiner asked them to deboard from the train midway on charges of entering into a sleeper coach with general tickets. NF Railway PRO Nripen Bhattacharyya told TOI that the passengers called him up to explain their hapless situation.
"I intervened and told the TTE that the purpose of the special train was to evacuate passengers from the impending disaster-like situation. They should be allowed to travel to Howrah on humanitarian grounds. Leaving them midway would undermine the purpose of providing a special train to the stranded passengers. Then the TTE relented and allowed all 32 of them to travel up to Howrah," said Bhattacharyya.
Sachin Baishya, one of the pilgrims, said they are happy that they are on their way home. "Most of us have exhausted our money. But we received help from everyone. We are now waiting to reach home," said Baishya.
NF Railway has suspended at least 20 south-bound trains from the northeast, considering the safety of the passengers because of the cyclonic storm.