Stranded tourists to be airlifted

Kolkata, Sep 20 (PTI) The eastern Indian state West
Bengal government has made arrangements for airlifting 68
tourists from the state who are stranded at Lachung, one of
the worst quake-hit areas of northeastern state Sikkim.
West Bengal Disaster Management secretary I Pandey told
reporters here on Tuesday that helicopters would be engaged to
bring the stranded tourists to Siliguri in West Bengal
on Wednesday.
He said a decision had also been taken to constitute
block-level technical committees comprising engineers in the
districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur and
Coochbehar in West Bengal to identify the damaged buildings
and take steps for demolition of those which were not fit for
human habitation.
A total of 3,860 houses were fully damaged and 15,584
partly damaged due to the quake in these districts, he said.