Bengal will provide all assistance to Sikkim: Mamata

Siliguri Sep 20: West Bengal would provide all assistance to quake-hit Sikkim, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said today (Sept 20).

"We are with our brothers and sisters of Sikkim at this hour of distress," Banerjee told PTI on way to Gangtok through landslide-hit NH 31A, the lifeline of the hill state.

Banerjee, accompanied by Union Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy, left for Sikkim by car this morning after overseeing rescue and relief operations in north Bengal, also affected by Sunday's 6.8 magnitude earthquake.

"Sikkim is our neighbour state and we were the first state to rush assistance to the people there. We have provided dry food and medical kits for airdropping ... We will continue to provide all necessary assistance to the people of Sikkim," she said.

At least 41 people in Sikkim have been killed in the calamity which destroyed hundreds of houses and triggered landslides that disrupted communication to the mountain state.

PTI