Thaindian News

By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu, June 13 (IANS) Even as a 54-year-old man, officially the seventh Indian pilgrim to have died while attempting the gruelling Kailash Yatra in Tibet, was cremated in Kathmandu Saturday, two fellow travellers had seizures and were rushed to hospital, pilgrims returning to the Nepal capital said.

P. Mohan, a resident of Madurai, was cremated at the Arryaghat in the Pashupati temple premises in the presence of his grieving wife Kalyani Mohan, their three sons and other relatives who had flown to Kathmandu for the last rites.

Mohan, who died Friday, was shuttled between Tibet and Nepal after he had taken ill on the way, fellow pilgrims said.

“A member of the group with which Mohan was travelling was overcome by it all and had a seizure,” said Swahilya, a freelance journalist from Chennai who was also part of the group. The group member was identified as Gita from Pondicherry.

Swahilya said doctors had advised a brain operation and she had been admitted to a Kathmandu hospital.

A 67-year-old from Vikaspuri in New Delhi was also battling for his life at the National Institute of Neurological and Allied Sciences here.

His 63-year-old wife, who accompanied only by a sherpa had heroically brought him back by road travelling continuously for nearly two days, said he had a stroke June 7 after exhaustion brought about by the “chaos and mismanagement” by the tour operator.

His right side is paralysed and speech has been impaired. Doctors were investigating whether his brain was functioning fully.

Dozens of pilgrims, all of whom were taken to the yatra by the same tour operator, have alleged fleecing and deception.

One of them, Rajendra Harsh, whose wife Anjana had to be evacuated by helicopter after she fell unconscious, has already registered a first information report (FIR) with the Indian embassy in Kathmandu against the operator and asked for his licence to be cancelled.

He has also sent his complaint to various authorities in India including the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the tourism ministry and the office of the Gujarat chief minister as he comes from that state.