India 'a life saver', say grateful quake survivors

Narayan Ghat (Nepal) May 1: Nepal's quake survivors are grateful to India for its prompt response and have described it as "a life saver". India was quick to respond to the disaster by launching a massive relief and rescue operation within hours of the temblor that has left over 6,000 people dead. "It is the Indian government that came to our rescue and sadly not our very own government," rues one from a group of ageing Nepalese men sitting and chatting at a bus shelter in Butwal, as this IANS correspondent stops at places on the land route to Pokhara. Agrasen, who worked as a mechanic in Kathmandu a few years back, told IANS: "Everything's finished." His grandson Pushkar, the octogenarian said, has returned because of "God and the Indian Army". He lauded the rescue and relief work being done by the Indian Army and India's National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) teams which are stationed in Nepal ever since the 7.9 magnitude earthquake rattled the nation on April 25. Rajendra Bahadur Shah, also called 'Raja Babu', owns a distillery and a petrol pump in Krishnanagar. He too is full of praise for the Indian rescue efforts. Navneet Sehgal, principal secretary (information) of Uttar Pradesh, told IANS that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has led from the front. The state has sent rice, pulses, wheat flour, blankets, biscuits, chlorine tablets, tent, plastic sheets, bleaching powder, sanitary napkins, towels, snacks, dry food packets, mineral water, sugar, glucose and milk powder in the relief material rushed to Nepal.