Devastation due to floods in Nepal.
Hyderabad: Several families in the state are anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones after reports emerged that many people of Telugu origin, including NRIs, who had travelled for the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra, remain untraceable in the aftermath of the devastating floods in Nepal.
With information trickling in slowly and search efforts still underway, relatives have been left grappling with uncertainty, fear and despair as they cling to hope of receiving word about those missing.
Take the case of Hyderabad-based NRI Sridhar Avvari, his wife Deepti, and their 14-year-old son Abhinav, who travelled to Nepal for the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra with the Isha Foundation group on August 13.
The family here hasn’t heard from them since the disaster struck on August 26. “We were expecting a message from Sridhar and Deepti on August 26, as they were scheduled to return the next day. But there was no text. When we contacted them, their phones were unreachable. That’s when we grew concerned and reached out to Isha Foundation,” said Priyanka Rapaka, who is married to Deepti’s brother, to The Times of India.
Late on August 26, the Foundation informed them that the family was at the immigration centre on the Nepal-China border when the calamity struck. They were on their way back to Nepal after completing the Kailash Parikrama.
Priyanka said relatives in the US were sharing whatever updates they were getting from Nepal. “My brother, who is in the US, has been visiting the Isha centre there and giving us whatever information and photographs he is getting from Nepal.”
Meanwhile, Sridhar’s brothers, who also live in the US, have arrived to help with the search.
Elsewhere, in Manikonda, the family of 38-year-old Rallagudem Dhanpal Reddy is waiting anxiously for any update on him. Reddy was part of another 66-member group organised through a travel agency for Kailash-Mansarovar. He left Pune on August 23 and lost touch with his family on the day of the flash floods. His family said he was probably the only one from Telangana in that group.
He last spoke to them from the Nepal Immigration Centre, Telangana Today said, leaving his mother and wife Supriya anxious. This was his first international trip, they said.
The family has approached the Cyberabad police for help in tracing him. They said Reddy is a Shiva devotee with the deity’s tattoos on his shoulders, arms, and back. That could help with identification.
Rajendranagar MLA Prakash Goud has spoken to the aggrieved family on the phone, assuring them of help.
In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Chopparapu Rameshbabu’s family is also clinging to hope. Rameshbabu, another Telugu NRI who lives in Qatar, was also on the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra.
A software professional, Ramesh Babu, a native of Krishna district, was waiting at the checkpoint in Rasuwa district on the Nepal-Tibet border when the flash flood struck last Wednesday, according to Telangana Today.
His wife Sunita said a call went through to his phone that day, but he didn’t pick it up. His phone has been unreachable since.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad resident Rajeshwari Pamidighantam, who travelled along the same route with another Isha Foundation group, had crossed the immigration point on August 22, four days before the floods. She returned to Hyderabad on August 24.
Speaking to TOI, she said, “Everything was absolutely normal when we crossed the centre on our onwards and return journeys. There was nothing unusual that we noticed,” still shaken over the close shave she had.
This post was last modified on September 2, 2026 8:17 pm