Kathmandu, September 3
Nepali Congress chief whip Basana Thapa has accused the government of failing to adequately manage the rescue and response effort following the devastating Rasuwa flood.
Speaking at a meeting of the Infrastructure Development Committee on Thursday, Thapa said the state had done what it could with the resources available during the first two days after the sudden flood, but failed to move forward with a proper plan once the immediate crisis had passed.
She said the failure to seek assistance from friendly countries in time had further complicated the rescue effort.
“When the flood struck suddenly and it was an emergency, the state, the government and all of us did what we could within two days. I have no particular complaint about that. Given our limited resources, there was not much more we could have done, and we did what was possible during those two days,” Thapa said.
“But after two days, we had largely regained control and had also come out of that state of panic. We should have moved ahead with proper pre-planning after that, but we failed to do so. We have to acknowledge that we failed,” she said.
Thapa also questioned why rescue teams were unable to reach the vicinity of some of the affected tunnels despite technical information being available.
She said maps and technical details prepared during tunnel construction were available with the relevant authorities, yet rescue teams were unable to reach some tunnel sites promptly.
Thapa accused the government of falsely claiming that people trapped inside the tunnels had been rescued.
“Whether in the media or here in front of us, we have to say clearly that we failed. The construction plans of those tunnels should have been available to us as well. But technical teams could not even reach the vicinity of some of the tunnels immediately,” she said.
According to Thapa, people trapped outside the tunnels and in surrounding areas were rescued, but those inside the tunnels could not be reached.
She said the government must take the situation seriously, particularly because there is still hope that people trapped inside the Upper Trishuli 3A tunnel may be alive.
