Of the 1700-odd tourists including foreigners trapped in Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti districts of Himachal Pradesh, government helicopters on Wednesday managed to rescue only 76 people inviting criticism for tardy salvage operations. Himachal Pradesh deputy speaker and Kinnaur MLA Jagat Singh Negi slammed the slow pace saying it seemed the chopper pilots were on a picnic as per a TOI report.

"Instead of rescuing people, these choppers are coming to Kinnaur only for picnic. Only 10 to 12 stranded tourists have been airlifted against the capacity of 22 passengers," the Congress MLA said, adding that five sorties were planned for the day but only one flight took place.

"I was told the helicopter had flown to Ambala to refuel. Why wasn't a fuel tanker brought to Rampur for rescue work?" Negi asked exasperated. The administration had taken 60 hours to evacuate chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday, who too was stranded in Kinnaur due to landslides.

Negi said two choppers of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were yet to be deployed for Kinnaur. While most tourists stranded at Sangla were feeling helpless on finding no flights, around 20 tourists including a German woman stuck at Rakchham village, 18 km beyond Sangla, were struggling to reach Sangla to use the chopper service.

With road between Sangla and Rakchham blocked in many places, tourists have no option but to walk up to Sangla. A stranded tourist in Rakchham said around 20 people including two families from Mumbai, one from Kolkata, four families from Panchkula and a German woman were stuck in their hotel rooms for four days without electricity.

"We've not been approached by the administration and are worried about our safety," said the tourist.

Stranded tourists in Rakchham are charging their mobile phones in their cars and are worried about the food stock if the road doesn't open or they are not airlifted soon enough.

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