Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi asked the State Government to launch a survey and arrange for compensation for the thousands of damaged and cracked houses in several districts affected by the earthquake on Saturday and Sunday. He also requested the Government to rescue thousands of Bihar natives working in Nepal.
Union Minister for Food and Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan, on the other hand, was not satisfied with the rescue and relief operations of the State Government.
Sushil Kumar Modi, who visited Sitamarhi and Sheohar districts situated on the Nepal borders and met the families of the victims, said the Government should act swiftly in providing relief to the victims.
The State Government on Monday issued guidelines for the identification and categorisation of the houses that developed cracks due to earthquake and instructed all the District Magistrates to send the teams for the verification of the claims and fix compensation. The Government has fixed five categories of affected houses from totally demolished to partially damaged constructions. The Government has also announced an ex-gratia of Rs4 lakh each to the kin of person who died in the quake.
“Over 500 people of Parshurampur village of Parsauni block in Sitamarhi district alone are stranded in Kathmandu. The Government should send a senior official to Pokhra and Kathmandu. He, in consultation with the Indian Embassy, can make arrangements to bring them back to Patna by air,” said Sushil Kumar Modi and lamented that the helpline number of the Government was not proving very effective and instead issue a toll-free number in order to help the stranded people to contact their families.
Modi also claimed that most of the deaths were not due to collapse of building but, because of shock and stampede. It is unfortunate that the administration is not listing those victims as quake victims; he said and added that they should be treated as quake victims eligible for compensation. He said a large number of people from bordering districts go to Nepal to eke out a living. A large number of people were also injured in the stampede post earthquake, he added.
Union Minister Paswan on Monday charged the Bihar Government with showing “sloppy” attitude to natural calamities like storms and earthquakes saying while the Centre was time and again promising to extend all help, the Nitish Kumar Government was not utilising it.
“The sloppy attitude of the Bihar Government could be assessed from the fact that it has neither sent any report on the extent of damage by tropical storm on April 21 nor on the earthquake,” Paswan, alleged. Asked if the Centre is considering the recent calamity in Bihar including squall in March as a national calamity, Paswan said, “It could be considered only after the Bihar Government sends report of damage”.
On earthquake that has rocked Bihar, Paswan said he had extensively toured different parts of the State after Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally telephoned him. “During the tour of districts like Khagaria, Samastipur, Araria, Kishanganj, Darbhanga, Munger among others, I talked to District Magistrates and other officials but, they gave me vague answers on the loss of life and damage to houses and crops,” he said addeing that he would send his report to the Prime Minister.