Kolkata, May 4 (IANS) West Bengal on Monday despatched 30 trucks carrying relief material to quake-hit Nepal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself flagged off the vehicles at Panitanki on the India-Nepal border.
“The West Bengal government has sent 30 trucks to Nepal with food, water, tarpaulins and other relief material,” Banerjee said in Siliguri in north Bengal after flagging off the trucks.
Shortly after the quake hit Nepal and the northern regions of West Bengal on April 25, Banerjee visited the area to review the damage the quake had caused in Mirik (near Darjeeling) and Siliguri.
On Saturday, the Bengal government had said it will provide 100,000 tents for people in the quake-hit areas of Nepal, after a request from the Himalayan nation’s Kolkata-based Consulate General’s Office to the state government.
“Many people from Nepal live in Bengal and there are many from Bengal who earn their livelihood in Nepal. Nepal is India’s friend and it is our duty to help them. We are also ready to help Bihar and Uttar Pradesh which too have been affected by the quake,” Banerjee had said earlier.
As of Monday evening, the toll in Nepal due to the earthquake crossed 7,365.