There is no light, food or
wa ter...the hotel has been de stroyed in the earthquake. We are staying in
bus. But don't worry, we will be fine.“ This is the message Roshni Tejas
Thakkar received from her family members who are stranded in Nepal after the
tragedy struck the Himalayan country.Six of her family members, along with 65
other tourists, went to Kathmandu on a pilgrimage on April 17. It turned into a
nightmare after the tremblor destroyed all communication links and basic
facilities.
“They are aged and can't walk properly due to knee pain. Yesterday
after the quake, they got so scared that they spent the night in their bus.
Today, early morning they reached the airport. After the second tremor on
Sunday afternoon, their Indigo flight has delayed further. I just pray to God
that they return safely,“ said Roshni, a home-maker from Ghodasar.Their flight
was scheduled for 1 pm on Sunday but on their way to boarding the flight,
second tremor struck. The flight was postponed to 6.15 pm.When Mirror spoke to
them around 7 pm, a concerned Roshni said that the flight had got postponed
further and her family had run out of food.
“Please help them, I am so
scared,“ she said in choked voice.“Due to shortage of basic amenities, the
prices have shot up. For a packet of biscuit of Rs 10, shopkeepers are charg
ing Rs 500,“ said Roshni's husband Tejas, a tax consultant.
SPECIAL FLIGHTS, BUSES
According to state disaster
control authority, more than 650 tourists had gone to Nepal and were waiting to
return. “Indian Air Force has arranged special flights for them which are
bringing them to Delhi from where they are returning to Gujarat. We have
arranged special vehicles to transport them to their homes from the airport,“
said Collector Rajkumar Beniwal. Ahmedabad collector.Snapped telephone network
has cut communication between worried family members. Kamlesh Patel, lecturer
at CTC College, has been trying to contact his in-laws since Saturday but has
not been able to speak to them.“Last time I spoke to them was at 4 pm on
Saturday. After that we haven't been able to get in touch with them,“ said
Patel.The state government has announced helplines for people in distress. In
these two days, it has received more than 1,000 calls.
“We have received more than
200 calls from other states. We relay such queries to Delhi headquarters. As we
receive information about their fam ily we immediately convey it to the
callers,“ said Bipin Bhatt, director of relief at the state control room.
HELP DESK SET UP
To provide better
assistance, airport officials along with the collector has set up helpdesk
headed by Deputy Collector Ravindra C Jadeja. Though most people prefer to go
directly to Gujarat from the airport, 13 people spent the night at Gujarat
Bhavan in Delhi. Also, the railways has rescheduled seats of the passengers on
priority basis who are coming back from Nepal. “Chief Minister Anandiben Patel
has reviewed the arrangements and directed the Delhi-based Resident
Commissioner's office to render all possible help to Gujaratis stuck in Nepal and
any other parts of the Himalayas affected by the earthquake,“ he said.
VARSITY WAIVES OFF TUITION
FEE FOR NEPALI STUDENTS
Parul University in
Vadodara has announced free education for 50-100 Nepalese students from this
academic year. Students from Nepal studying there had ap proached Dr Jayesh
Patel, president of the varsity, on Saturday to apprise him of the situation in
their country. “Right now we have only two Nepali students studying in our
colleges. They had informed the director that schools and colleges in their
hometown in Nepal had turned into rubble following the quake . So, we have
decid ed to waive off tuition fee for about 100 Nepalese students to begin with
and in some cases, even the hostel fee,“ said Devanshu Patel, member of
varsity's board of governance. The varsity charges Rs 50,000 as tuition fee per
student.
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