As the death toll in Nepal’s devastating earthquake mounted and thousands of victims are still stranded, Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav sought special treatment for relatives of politicians stuck in the disaster zone. Ram Gopal Yadav said in Rajya Sabha on Monday that special arrangements should be made for the relatives of fellow party leader Naresh Agarwal who are stuck in Kathmandu.
“While the government is sensitive to the tragedy, Indian Embassy in Kathmandu has not shown equal sensitivity,” he said showing concern and urgency only for the MP’s relatives to be saved. He added that he had spoken to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and telephoned the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, but there was no positive response.
Yadav said while the Centre has been quick in helping Nepal, the Uttar Pradesh government, too, has deployed buses in border areas to ferry stranded people and transport food, medicines and relief supplies.
MPs cutting across party line praised Indian government’s role in relief and rescue operations in quake-hit Nepal but also wanted it to beef up preparedness to deal with such calamities.
The House mourned the deaths and loss of property caused by the temblor, as most of the Zero Hour was taken up to allow members to speak on the tragedy in the Himalayan nation.
“Many comments come on social media that earthquake is going to happen at this hour. We should adopt restraint and not spread rumours on social media. I also appeal to people not to pay attention to such rumours being spread on social media,” Telecom and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
