West Bengal prepares List of 200 stranded people

The West Bengal government has asked its district magistrates to prepare a list of more than 200 Indians from north Bengal’s tea belt of Terai, Doors and Darjeeling who are stranded in Kabul and various other cities of Afghanistan. Raju Bista, BJP Darjeeling MP, is also coordinating with the Centre to trace people from North Bengal, who are stranded there.

CM Mamata Banerjee said more than 200 people from West Bengal are stranded in Afghanistan. She said: “The state government will write to the MEA in detail.”

Bista said: “We are doing our best to bring them back to the country. The PM is holding a series of meetings and the External Affairs Ministry is doing the needful.”


Shekhar Gurung, who was stranded in Kabul, has been rescued and is waiting for an evacuation aircraft. He had gone to Afghanistan in July. “Gurung is safe inside the Kabul airport with US forces guarding the airport. We are worried, till he returns,” his wife, Sanju Gurung, said. Similarly, Amanulla Khan, a resident of Jalpaiguri’s Oldabari, told ET: “My elder sister is a doctor and my brother-in-law is a medical assistant in Afghanistan. They stay several kilometres away from Kabul and now it is extremely difficult for them to come to Kabul to catch a flight. They want to return to India.”