The toll in India from Saturday’s earthquake shot up to 72 on Monday, even as New Delhi ramped up relief and rescue operations in Nepal to provide succour to the nation devastated by the temblor.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh informed the Lok Sabha that toll in the country has climbed up to 72, with 57 deaths reported in Bihar, 12 in UP, three in West Bengal and one in Rajasthan.
He said 10 NDRF teams were already in the Himalayan nation and six more are on their way. An engineering task force and 18 medical units have also been rushed. An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle has also been dispatched to assess the gigantic losses suffered by the landlocked nation.
Over 5,400 Indians have been evacuated from quake-hit Nepal so far and free visas are being given to foreigners stranded there.
The force, till now, has rescued 10 people and retrieved 46 bodies from under the rubble of buildings brought down by the quake on Saturday and a string of aftershocks thereafter.
NDRF Director General (DG) OP Singh, who is camping in Kathmandu since Sunday, said a team of his men has also been deployed at the Tribhuvan International Airport to assist the Indian Embassy officials in the air evacuation of stranded Indians.
“Our main priority is to go for as many rescue operations as we can. Last night, our operations got hit as there were incessant rain and aftershocks. But this morning, we have started full-fledged operations as the day is sunny and there has been no rain,” Singh said.
OP Singh said three NDRF teams each are working in Bhaktapur and Kathmandu and two in Lalitpur.
He said, a “small team” of his personnel are also on way to Pokhara area, which has been worst-hit in the fury. NDRF teams, comprising 450 trained personnel, have fanned across areas such as Seetapaila, Maharajganj, Maheshwari and Gangabhajat, 10-15km from Kathmandu.
The Centre has airdashed a team of senior officials from ministries of Home, Defence, External Affairs and NDMA to coordinate with the Nepalese authorities in the rescue and relief operations.
Headed by Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry BK Prasad, the team will also monitor the evacuation of stranded Indians in Nepal and send a report to New Delhi to help it further intensify its efforts to provide assistance to the Himalayan nation.
Calling it a “very big tragedy”, Rajnath Singh said India stands by Nepal and those affected in India in this hour of crisis. He also thanked the governments of Bihar, UP and Uttarakhand for setting up relief camps at the border with Nepal and plying buses to evacuate people.
Experts have also been rushed to Nepal to restore the communication network thrown into disarray.
“We are also helping foreigners. We have decided to give free visas to those willing to come to India. Immigration facilities have been set up in this regard,” he said.
Meanwhile, both the Houses of the Parliament condoled the loss of life in the quake, with the Lok Sabha accepting a proposal moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Vankaiah Naidu for MPs to donate one month’s salary for carrying out relief and reconstruction work in Nepal.
Some Rajya Sabha members also suggested that they be allowed to use funds available to them under the MPLADS scheme to complement government’s relief efforts in Nepal.
Meanwhile, the Border guarding force Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) on Monday said that it has dispatched over three dozen vehicles, including ambulances and water tankers, from its border camps for relief operations in quake-hit areas of Nepal.
The border sentinels have also established 15 regional centres along the 1,751-km open border to help stranded Indians coming back to the country.
The force, in a statement said, a total of 7,959 people have crossed the border till Monday afternoon.
SSB medical teams have treated 200 people and evacuated eight seriously injured.
Relief work: PM lauds states
PM Narendra Modi has lauded states, NDRF, media and other agencies in the wake of Nepal quake that also hit India. “To all those saying #ThankYouPM- appreciate the sentiment...real thanks should be to our great culture, which teaches us ‘Seva Parmo Dharma’,” he tweeted. “If we want to thank anyone, it should be the 125 crore people of India who have made Nepal’s pain their own & extended all help,” he said.