KATHMANDU: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara talked to India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over phone on Sunday and requested her to open gates of dams in border areas.

According to Mahara’s Press Coordinator Hari Lamichhane, Swaraj told Mahara that she had already issued directives to authorities concerned to open the gates. Swaraj also told Mahara that the Indian government was ready to provide assistance to Nepal in this hour of grief.