Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs to take stock of the situation arising out of Sunday's earthquake in Sikkim. Dr. Singh, who leaves for New York on a six-day visit today to attend the UNGA Summit, discussed with his cabinet colleagues the situation in the northeastern state.

The meeting is understood to have deliberated on the ways to help the quake-affected people and about relief and rehabilitation measures. Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi are among those who attended the meeting.

Prior to the meeting, Dr. Singh spoke to Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling and assured him that the Centre would do everything needed to deal with the situation.

The prime minister's telephonic talk was the second since the powerful quake devastated Sikkim. Dr. Singh has announced ex-gratia relief of two lakh rupees for the kin of those killed in the quake and one lakh rupees for those injured.

The relief and restoration works in Sikkim is being carried out on a war footing. The power supply in the State has partially been restored while a normal road connectivity too is being restored gradually.

The West Bengal Chief Minister Miss Mamta Banerjee has visited Sikkim and assured all assistance to the quake hit state She also addressed a joint press conference with the Sikkim Chief Minister at Sirwani in East Sikkim district after a short stay in Gangtok.

The Sikkim Chief Minister Mr. Pawan Chamling said that given the quantum of the losses it may take about one month time for the state to come to normalcy.

The AICC General Secretary, Rahul Gandhi has arrived in Gangtok. He will be visiting Central Referal hospital at Tadong and STNM hospital in Gangtok to see the injured persons admitted there.

He will also visit the badly damaged Tashiling Secretariat during his short visit to the town. Earlier, Mr. Gandhi made an aerial survey of the worst affected north Sikkim district.

Meanwhile death toll in Sunday's powerful earthquake has gone up to up to 97, including 58 in the Himalayan state. Besides Sikkim, the toll has gone up to 12 in West Bengal, nine in Bihar and 11 in Nepal. There is no change in yesterday's figure of seven deaths in Tibet.