New Delhi

RSS service wing Rashtriya Sewa Bharati today said over 100 trained doctors and at least 200 of its other volunteers went to quake-ravaged Nepal including remote areas to assist in the relief work there.

The RSS volunteers worked in coordination with over 1,600 workers of the Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh (HSS) of Nepal to carry out relief work, Rashtriya Sewa Bharati chief Surya Prakash Tonk and Shyam Parande, convener of Sewa International, another Sangh-backed body, said at a media interaction here.

Speaking about the scale of the tragedy, Tonk said that while the official figures of the toll were much less, the devastation in the neighbouring country has been so severe that the final toll could even reach up to 15,000.

He however expressed faith in the resilience of the Nepalese people.

Responding to a question about the HSS, Parande, who had visited Nepal, said that RSS has presence in 40 countries across the world and the workers of different countries are independent, but they work in coordination.

Tonk said RSS workers collected contributions from all sections of the society in all states and 40,000 kg rice, 55,133 tarpaulins, 1,300 bags of wheat flour, more than 80,000 blankets and medicines worth Rs 5 lakh were dispatched apart from milk powder, tents and other necessities.

Tonk said that now the organisation is focussing on rehabilitation work. Asked if RSS was getting a chance to get connect with more people through service, Tonk said that the scope of work has grown with the organisation while adding that even the Sangh’s founding fathers did service.

The Rashtriya Sewa Bharati is an umbrella body of nearly 800 Sangh backed organisations which are engaged in social work.

PTI