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Ramdev safe in Kathmandu, expresses grief over destruction
New Delhi, April 25
Yoga guru Ramdev, who is
in Kathmandu for a yoga camp, is safe, his spokesperson said after a
massive earthquake shook Nepal and parts of India on Saturday morning,
causing widespread devastation.
Ramdev has gone there to conduct a five-day session being organised by Patanjali, Nepal chapter.
"Our
sessions were from 5 a.m to 7.30 a.m. He then went to a different camp
and at the time of the earthquake he was coming out from that session,"
Ramdev's spokesperson S.K. Tijarawala told IANS.
"Also a few
minutes after he came out of the 'pandal', it collapsed. And when he
moved further away, he saw a multi-storey building collapse in front of
his eyes," he added.
Tijarawala also said: "He (Ramdev) has seen
such natural disaster for the first time and was not in a position to
understand what action he should take in the first place."
According
to Tijarawala, Ramdev is fine and has expressed grief and shock at this
natural calamity. "He has assured Nepal that India will be by their
side."
"We have already mobilised thousands of our supporters to
be active in rescue operations and other ground work required during
this time of grief," he added.
External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj tweeted: "We have contacted Baba Ramdev in Kathmandu. He wishes
to be there in this hour of crisis."
Ramdev has postponed the
inauguration of the first Patanjali Ayurved College and Hospital, and
the laying of the foundation stone of the first Acharyakulam, a school
based on vedic-cum-modern education, in Nepal.
The earthquake
measuring a staggering 7.9 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre in
Nepal's Lamjung district some 75 km from Kathmandu, led to massive
infrastructure destruction, leaving 888 people dead till Saturday
evening.