Coronavirus lockdown: 173 stranded pilgrims return home from Tamil Nadu

Rameswaram: Ramanathaswamy Temple, a sacred place for the Hindus, attracts more than 1.5 crore pilgrims and tourists annually. Most devotees travel from North India, and within a period of five days from March 15 to 20, a total of 83 people from Bihar, 52 from Uttar Pradesh, 33 from Madhya Pradesh, 2 from Chhattisgarh, 2 from Delhi and 1 from Maharashtra had visited the temple.

The Central government imposed a lockdown to arrest the spread of coronavirus and as a result some pilgrims returned to their states, while others were stranded in Rameswaram as the lockdown was extended. Without means to travel back and little money, the stranded devotees were accommodated in private hostels by the district administration.

The district administration and BJP administrators provided essential commodities including food packets to the stranded devotees. The devotees had also requested the district administration to make arrangements for their return, following which 173 pilgrims from 6 states, who had stayed for 51 days in Rameshwaram went back home on Sunday. The initiative was supervised by health inspectors Balasubramanian and Thiyagarajan.