Malur youth missing in Himalayas

Mohan and Muniraju of Kudiayanur had undertaken the bicycle jatha to urge the Centre to find a permanent solution to the water shortage in the taluk, and to raise awareness about environment.

Both are students of the First Grade college here.Muniraju is learnt to be stranded somewhere near the Himalayas for lack of money.

The two youths had in the past undertaken similar bicycle jathas to raise awareness on various issues including the drugs menace. Mohan and Muniraju began their 6,000-km journey from Malur to the Himalayas by bicycles on March 31. They passed through Chikkaballapur, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Lucknow, Lumbini, Kathmandu, Naughat before reaching Namthe at the foothills of Himalayas, Muniraju told Deccan Herald over phone.

The Nepalese authorities accorded permission only to Mohan to go up the Himalayas.
“He told me to wait at the foothills, till he returned. For the last 16 days I have been waiting here. The authorities, who fear the worst if a mountaineer does not return or is
incommunicado for over 15 days, asked me to contact Mohan’s family,” Muniraju said.

He said he had no money to return and was in a town called Bassi in Uttar Pradesh.
Mohan’s parents Rathnamma and Rajappa told Deccan Herald that their son had called them up and told them that he was climbing a mountain Himalayas and would be contacting them after 20 days.

“We were waiting for his call. Now Muniraju’s call has made us worried,”they told Deccan Herald.