Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday reviewed the post earthquake situation in North Bengal districts and said that 106 people from the state are stranded in Nepal who are yet to be traced and efforts are on to locate them. “As per the information available, another 336 people of Bengal who were in Nepal have either come back or are on their way back,” Mamata said at a press conference after holding a meeting with senior officials of different departments. “We are sending a bus to Nepal with people who want to go there to meet their loved ones, and to bring back those stranded there,” she added. While maintaining that the “true assessment” of the damage caused by the earthquake “will take some more time”, the chief minister informed that 62 blocks and 61 villages have been affected. [related-post] Mamata also said she has formed a crisis management group to deal with the impact on three districts of north Bengal. She added that she will write to the Centre for financial assistance only after after making a detailed assessment of the damages to life and property, adding, it was the onus of the central government to provide such support as it was a case of natural disaster. “Our first priority is to save lives. 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. We will ask for funds from the Centre only after the proper and total assessment has been done,” she added. Three persons have died, 157 others, including 43 schoolchildren, injured and over 3,000 houses damaged so far in the earthquake which had a major effect in the districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar. The CM also informed that a PWD team will soon inspect bridges in the state to look for damage. Similarly, departments of irrigation, health, panchayat and Hooghly river bridge commissioners (under transport department) have been asked to examine their infrastructure and the damage caused. The CM said an awareness campaign will also be launched to inform people about their role during such emergencies. While Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council chairman, Bimal Gurung, skipped the meeting, other senior officials of the DGHC were present.
