As the private tourists operating in the State are not maintaining any records of the tourists, they could not provide the details of the tourist went on Char Dham pilgrimage.   As such the details of the stranded or missing persons are not available.  To overcome this type of problem in future, the Deputy Commissioner, Disaster Management Champalal came up with some measures to regularize the tour operations.

1. Tour Operators should register with the respective district authorities should be made mandatory.

2. Operators should furnish the details of travelers to the respective district authorities.

3. Operators should maintain the record of travelers information of which will be a handy in case of accidents.  

The Deputy Commissioner says that it is not possible to ascertain the number of pilgrims yet to return.  Although it is informed by the District authorities that about 2000 passengers have returned, the information of how many actually have gone on Char Dham tour and how many are yet to be traced out is not known now.  

In fact the rules to be followed as above are not new.  But the implementation of it is missing in the State.  Based on the information received so far from the District authorities only 2699 people have gone to Char Dham Yatra from AP.  Private tour operators should in fact maintain a record of actual tourists with their names and addresses as the minimum details of the record.

It is also advisable for the tour operators to maintain the contact numbers to be contacted in case of emergency, and the personal details of the tourists like the ailments, medication and compulsory medicines they have to carry, blood group etc.  But as long as the things are moving no one bothers about the precautions.  It becomes a hot topic at the time of a mishap and after some time it will again be forgotten gradually.

(AW-Srija)