Pimpri: The slow-flowing river Savitri at Amarnath suddenly took the form of a stormy sea. On June 25, 165 pilgrims, including 53 from Pimpri-Chinchwad, left for North India. Among them were Shyamla Sonawane, Machhindra Sonawane, Pradip Hadage, Vijaya Hadage, Bharti Salunkhe, Shivaji Pawar and Sujata Pawar. They visited Amritsar, Vaishnodevi, Kodkonai Devi. After getting a government pass from Jammu, they went to Amarnath on 5th July. After that Savitri river, which is adjacent to the Amarnath cave, started flooding.
"Meanwhile, soaked in the heavy rain, we all somehow managed to reach the car. The trains departed; But by then the situation had worsened. There was rush in the streets. As a result, trains stopped at two places for five hours. There were 165 pilgrims including 90 women and 25 senior citizens. There was no tea, no water, no food for the whole day. This caused a lot of trouble. Defense personnel also helped in the incident. The pilgrims reached Jammu from Baltal in a very difficult situation and reached Amritsar by bus. From there, the pilgrims reached Pune safely and breathed a sigh of relief," said Shyamla Sonawane.