Tapashi Roy, a resident of Rangalivita near Siliguri departed for Sikkim in search of her husband. Since the October 4 devastation, he has remained untraceable. She boarded a bus from Siliguri to Gangtok.
Tapashi last spoke to her husband Rishikesh Roy on October 3 at 12:15 am. Rishikesh is a worker at Teesta Urja Limited Company and has been posted in Mangan, North Sikkim, for the past 5 years.
“I used to talk to my husband at night. However, after the incident his number is not reachable. I could not even contact the company.
I heard that 14 employees are missing from the company and so I am going to Mangan to find out for myself,” said Tapashi before she left for Sikkim accompanied by her brother. Meanwhile, tourists who were stranded at Lachung and Lachen heaved a sigh of relief on returning to Siliguri safely. They thanked the Indian Army and Sikkim government for continuous help.
A Sikkim National Transport (SNT) bus arrived at Siliguri on Tuesday from Gangtok with 14 tourists.
“We were scared but we did not face much difficulties as all the arrangements were taken care of by the Army and Sikkim government. We were in hotels. Thanks to the Army and Sikkim government for safely evacuating us,” said Amitava Ram, a resident of Singur, who reached Sikkim on October 2 with his wife.
Pooja Shadukha, a resident of Hooghly said: “I went to North Sikkim on September 30 with my family. We were scheduled to return on October 4. We are lucky to have survived the ordeal.”
The Greater North Bengal Hoteliers Association made arrangements for the tourists to stay overnight in hotels free-of-cost. On Wednesday too, several labourers were evacuated from the disaster-hit regions of Mangan and transported to Siliguri in SNT buses.
The migrant labourers from different states of India expressed gratitude to the Sikkim government for the arrangements made for their stay at relief camps and providing them with transportation and accommodation facilities.