Kolkata: As the West Bengal government grapples to access the impact of Saturday’s earthquake, which shook parts of north Bengal, the government is putting an all-out effort to trace the 108 people from the state still stranded in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal.
“As per the information available, 108 people are the states were in Nepal for various purposes are still stranded and could not be traced. We are trying our best to get them back,” chief minister Mamata Banerjee said after holding a meeting with senior officials of different departments in Siliguri.
Banerjee said 336 people from Bengal who were in Nepal have either come back or are on their way back and the state will be sending buses into Nepal so that the people can meet their loved ones and bring them back if they want.
She also formed a crisis management group to deal with the impact of the earthquake on three districts of north Bengal and said monetary assistance would be sought from the Central government only after detailed assessment of the damages.
“We have formed a crisis management group headed by Director General of Police (Coastal Security) Raj Kanojia. It has members from the disaster management group, police and hospital authorities,” Banerjee said.
Three persons were killed and 69 others, including 43 schoolchildren, were injured in the earthquake which had a major effect in the districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar.
However, the economic impact of the quake could be severe on the hilly districts of the state that depend on tourism as many cancel holidays ahead of the summer vacations.
“Already a large number of cancellations have taken place and we are worried that more could happen as the aftershocks still continue. This whole region is dependent of tourism as the primary source of income and summer months are our peak season,” said Suresh Tapha, member of the hotels association in the region.
Others worry that the recently various companies were showing interest in setting up food processing units in the region could back out due to fear of earthquakes.
Experts have already commented that the Nepal quake on Saturday is a prelude to an even bigger one that could touch 9 on the Richter scale, and this time India may have to bear the direct brunt of it.
