PM visits quake-hit Sikkim, announces relief package of Rs. 1,000 crore

Gangtok, Sep 29 (ANI): Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who visited quake-hit Sikkim on Thursday, announced a relief package of Rs. 1,000 crore for the victims of the fatal incident.

Dr. Singh, who took off on an aerial survey of the worst affected areas of Sikkim after his arrival here, termed it to be tragic incident and promised the Centre's full assistance to meet the requirement of the situation of relief and rehabilitation in the aftermath of the tragedy.

"The Central Government will help the people and Government of Sikkim in every possible way. We will ensure that every possible assistance is given to the Sikkim Government to reconstruct and rebuild their lives in the aftermath of this tragedy," said Dr. Singh.

"My honoured colleague, Shri P Chidambaram (Union Home Minister) had already visited and announced an amount of 50 crore to be made available to the State Government and today I have announced a sum of 1000 crore from the Central Government to meet the requirement of the situation of relief and rehabilitation in the aftermath of this tragedy" he added.

Dr. Singh earlier met the victims in the hospital and discussed the general situation with the concerned state officials.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram had last week assessed the ongoing rescue and relief efforts in quake-hit Sikkim.

Chidambaram, who made an aerial survey of the worst affected north Sikkim areas, had then said that the Centre would give Rs 50 crore immediately as grant for relief and rehabilitation work.

A powerful earthquake with a 6.8 magnitude hit Sikkim and several areas in the eastern part of the country and neighbouring Nepal on the evening of September 18.

The epicentre of the quake was located in the Mangan and Sakyong areas, over 50 kilometres from Gangtok on the Sikkim-Nepal border.

Tremors were also felt in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chandigarh and Delhi. (ANI)