Union Home Secretary lC Goyal on Saturday said that five teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), comprising 45 personnel each, have been dispatched to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh for conducting rescue and relief operations.
He said the NDRF teams are equipped with lifesaving kits, breathing equipment, wood and metal cutters and other essential gadgets and are also accompanied by paramedics and sniffer dogs.
Goyal said that the Bihar Government had requested for the NDRF teams and one team each has been sent to Darbhanga, Supaul, Motihari and Gopalganj districts of the State. An NDRF team has also been sent to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, he added.
“I am in constant touch with the Chief Secretaries of the affected States and assured them all possible help,” he said. Goyal said an inter-governmental coordination cell has been set up under the Cabinet secretariat, which will work with all the stakeholders engaged in rescue and relief operations in Nepal and India.
The Home Secretary said communication networks in the affected States were unaffected from the tremors and functioning well. NDRF Director General OP Singh said 10 rescue teams have been flown to Nepal to assist the local authorities there in search and rescue operation.