Housing Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana, who gave anxious moments to the government and people of Andhra Pradesh after several Telugu TV channels flashed news of his being stranded on the Indo-Nepali –Tibetan border in the icy Himalayas during his return journey along with others from Mount Kailash Sunday afternoon, left for the Manasa Saroravara Yatra on June 11 along with his two sons, Bhimili MLA Avanthi Srinivas and along with 10 others of Guntur town.

Kanna and other pilgrims booked tickets on Sothern Travels which took them to Nepal and from there to Mount Kailash by helicopters.

During their return journey, the choppers of the Southern Travels delayed their arrival to ferry them to Katmandu because of the inclement weather as a result of which they were all stranded at the hill station Hilsa on the Nepali-Tibetan border.

Kanna first informed his condition to Minister Vatti Vasanthakumar over his mobile after which all TV channels flashed the news. Vasanthakumar alerted chief secretary SV Prasad who requested the Government of India and the Defense authorities to do the needful to rescue Kanna and his team of pilgrims.

Meanwhile, Kanna, while talking to news channels and the government officials, blamed the Southern Travels for abandoning them to their fate in the thick of icy mountains. He said all other travel agencies are sending their helicopters as per the schedule given to their customers for their pick up but Southern travels has not kept its promise of sending helicopters on the pretext of inclement weather.

On the request of the Indian authorities, Nepali Army promised to ferry the Minister back to safety but said it could do so only Monday morning as nothing could be done during the night. As promised the Nepali army choppers ferried Kanna and his troop safely back to Katmandu this morning. From Katmandu, the minister will fly back to Delhi from where he will reach Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, Kanna and his team could get some shelter at the Hilsa village in the evening only after being forced to stay in the chilly weather between two icy hillocks during the whole day.