Visa Rejection Spares Bengal Woman From Nepal Floods That Killed Over 350
· India · Hindustan Times, India Today
Tapati Singha, a 61-year-old woman from West Bengal, was scheduled to travel to Nepal for the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage with 32 others from her state when her Chinese visa was rejected without a stated reason. She rerouted to Ladakh instead, escaping the flash floods in Nepal that have killed over 350 people. Singha told PTI she had landed in Delhi and was heading to Kolkata, saying the rejection that once left her shattered now weighed on her differently. India's MEA said on Thursday that 288 Indian nationals remain uncontactable, including 73 workers on the Trishuli 1 power project, two Tamil Nadu groups of 37 and 49 who had travelled for the Amarnath Yatra, and the group of 32 from West Bengal. The Nepal-based counterpart of the Kolkata travel agency has been unable to establish contact with any of the travellers.
Why it matters
The visa rejection spared Singha from joining 32 fellow West Bengal pilgrims who are now among 288 Indians uncontactable in Nepal, underscoring both the scale of the disaster's reach into Indian pilgrim and worker communities and the continuing uncertainty around their fate.
Read the original report — Hindustan Times
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