Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Thursday confirmed that 36 people from the state are missing in Nepal due to devastating floods.
Although the state government officials are yet to give the details of all the missing persons, they have claimed these tourists are from different pockets in West Bengal, including Kolkata, Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas district, Basirhat in North 24 Parganas, Durgapur in West Burdwan district, Tarakeshwar in Hooghly and Siliguri in Darjeeling district.
Earlier, confusing figures about the missing persons started surfacing from different quarters since Wednesday night. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari issued a statement that the government was trying to ascertain and verify the exact number of missing persons from the state.
“The Government of West Bengal is actively coordinating with the Embassy of India in Kathmandu and proper administrative channels. The exact number of missing or affected persons from West Bengal is currently being ascertained, and verification is underway. Information regarding those stranded is being sought and closely monitored in real time to facilitate prompt assistance and rescue,” the Chief Minister’s statement read.
He also announced a separate control room at the West Bengal Police headquarters at Bhabani Bhavan in South Kolkata for that purpose with two dedicated helpline numbers.
Now, the official number of missing persons in Nepal flood from West Bengal has been put at 36.
It is learnt that the majority of the 36 missing persons were part of a group of pilgrims from the state, who went to the neighbouring Himalayan state on a tour arranged by a Kolkata-based tour operating agency. This includes two staff of the tour operator agency.
The founder of the agency, ‘Cholo Jai’, Dibyajyoti Basu, has confirmed to mediapersons that his agency’s Kolkata office has lost contact with the group since Wednesday.
The family members of some of the missing tourists have already started rushing to Kathmandu to get first-hand information about their lost relative from there.
(IANS)
