The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that nearly five thousand Nepalis including those operating hotels and shops at Badrinath and Kedarnath and surrounding areas, those carrying the pilgrims to these places and those who reached there for pilgrimage were in these places at the time of the disaster.[break]
A team that went to the flood-affected area from New Delhi last week for collecting information on the real situation of the Nepalis in the area gave out the information that five thousand Nepali citizens including three thousand 900 people who carried the pilgrims, 158 hotel operators and those operating small shops near the temples and nearby areas and those who reached there for paying homage from different pl;aces of Nepal, were present in Uttarakhand when the disaster struck, Foreign Ministry spokesman Deepak Dhital said.
Dhital said that according to the details collected by the team Nepalis incurred property loss of over four million Indian rupees due to the disaster. The Indian authorities informed the Nepali team that no Nepali was found involved in the looting of property and goods that took place in the flood-affected area, he added.
The Uttarakhand State officials suggested the team to collect the particulars of the pilgrims from all the 75 districts of Nepal, saying they didnot have the exact data regarding the number of Nepalis affected or displaced or killed, Ministry spokesman Dhital said, quoting the Nepalese Embassy in New Delhi, India.
Only 165 of the people who went on pilgrimage to Badri Kedar during that time have come into contact.
More than one thousand people were killed and an equal number were reported missing by the Indian media. The flood and landslide destroyed infrastructure including roads, buildings and bridges with investments of billions of rupees.
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