10,210 Indians evacuated; priority visa for foreigners

India on Monday stepped up rescue and relief efforts from different points in Nepal from where over 10,000 Indians were evacuated so far.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the rescue and relief operations inside the country and Nepal while the Centre rushed an inter-ministerial team of top officials to help coordinate relief operations.

Indian military and civilian agencies doing rescue work in Nepal spread themselves out of Kathmandu to provide relief in towns where the disaster is unravelling in its worst forms.

An official statement said 10,210 were evacuated via air and road in the past two days.

The agencies on the ground have been instructed to evacuate injured, elderly, women and children first. On the request of other countries, India evacuated 30 injured foreign nationals. The government has decided to grant visas on priority to foreigners who want to come to India after being evacuated from Nepal, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in Lok Sabha.

Besides rushing three more teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Centre flew in more food, drinking water, milk, milk products, noodles, food packets, medicines, water purifying plants, oxygen regenerators, tents and blankets using Air Force choppers and planes negotiating landslides being cleared by troops.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar underlined the enormity of the job ahead when he told a press conference, “Our focus is on rescue and relief. We are functioning under severe constraints. So much work is ahead of us.”
India managed to run around 160 buses from different points to Kathmandu and other points ferrying people and relief material. 

From Janakpur and Sanauli check post, around 100 buses left for Kathmandu while from Raxaul and Beerganj, ten went to Pokhara and 25 to Kathmandu. From Raxaul and Beerganj, another 25 buses will move on Tuesday.

Another 21 trucks with food also managed to start from Raxaul. “The big change today is the movement on the ground. I hope that there will be more road movement tomorrow,” Jaishankar said adding once the road opens, more relief material could be transported. 

Defence Secretary R K Mathur said eight choppers — six from Kathmandu and two in Pokhara— were in operation. Four are on way to Pokhara while another six are on standby, he said, adding 12 fixed wing aircraft — 4 C17, 3 each C130 and IL76, 2 AN32 -— are also on the job. Amid concerns about reaching the inner parts of the country, Mathur said the defence ministry is reaching out to ex-servicemen of Gorkha Regiment who are in Nepal to help the rescue efforts.