Kathmandu: Efforts are underway for the relief and rescue operations in earthquake-hit Nepal. India has been actively participating in the operation to rescue the quake victims.
A total of 1935 Indians have been evacuated so far from Nepal while several others are still stranded. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup confirmed that a C-17 IAF aircraft with 291 passengers landed in Delhi early on Monday morning.
Swarup also added that more flights are expected land during the day. Fourteen civilian flights, 7 scheduled and 7 special will be operating from Kathmandu to Delhi on Monday.
There has been chaos at the Kathmandu airport as tourists queued up, waiting for a seat on Indian air force planes. Majority of those stuck in Nepal are from Maharashtra, Telangana, West Bengal and Kerala. Many of them are finding it difficult to make it to the airport as several roads have become virtually impassable. Buses from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are being sent to Nepal given the air congestion.
The Indian government has maintained that their immediate focus is on the rescue and relief operations. They are also examining land routes for evacuation of Indians.
India on Sunday, rushed 15 tonnes of medicines to Nepal which is facing an acute shortage emergency services in hospitals. A thirty-four member team has also been deployed. Three technicians have also been deployed to help out with the installation and operation of water treatment plants there to deal with the issue of shortage of water.
Director General of National Disaster Response Force OP Singh assured that they are putting in all their efforts to help in rescue operations. "I came to Kathmandu on Sunday. There are two important developments that took place, first the earthquake and the second was the incessant rain in the night. Because of these, people came out on the road and they did not sleep in their house and because of rain our night operations got affected for search and rescue. We are deployed all over the places. The most concentrated area is Lalitpur and NDRF is working there day in and day out. We are keeping 1 team of NDRF for evacuating people of Indian origin and the Indian tourists back home. This is one requirement NDRF team felt they should support," Singh said.
An inter-ministerial team, headed by a top Home Ministry official, has left for Nepal soon to coordinate the rescue and relief efforts as part of 'Operation Maitri' or friendship.
"I underline that rapid rescue and relief is our primary mission in Nepal. Situation in Nepal is very, very serious," Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had said at a joint news conference.
India has deployed more military planes and in all there were 13 aircraft, six Mi-17 helicopters, two Advanced Light Helicopters while two more Mi-17 choppers were kept on standby. Four C-17 Globemaster-III and three C-130J Super Hercules planes were among them.
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