Missionary NGO to Spend Rs 161 Crore for Tsunami Rehabilitation

Posted June 22, 2005
June 18, 2005 01:52 IST
Rediff.com

Various rehabilitation programmes will be taken up for the tsunami-affected in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by a non-governmental organisation which has earmarked Rs 161 crore for the purpose.

The NGO, World Vision, will concentrate on four areas of individual and community rehabilitation, economic recovery, infrastructure reconstruction, women-related and health programmes.

Out of the Rs 161 crore, Rs 27.8 crore has already been spent for various works, including seven-day relief packs, WV-India operations manager, tsunami response, Relton Samuel and WV-India group executive, strategic services, Suresh Kumar told reporters in Chennai on Friday.

Over the next 12 months, nearly Rs 72 crore will be used for shelters for the tsunami-affected, Rs 1.87 crore for providing water and sanitation, Rs 1.18 crore for child welfare and Rs 29.7 crore for economic recovery programmes, they said.

As part of the economic recovery programme, WV intends to give boats, fishing nets and engines to over 5,500 families in Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari districts in Tamil Nadu, Kollam in Kerala, Machilipatinam, Narsapur and Singarayakonda in Andhra Pradesh and in Pondicherry.

As part of their rehabilitation programme, WV intends to acquire 700 hectares of land for desalination in Tamil Nadu, which would benefit 6,600 people.

WV has built 3,184 temporary shelters in Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Chennai, besides assisting 566 families with small business grants in all the areas WV was operating.

At Machilipatinam, 157 dry fish business units had been set up and 200 acres of land reclamation work carried out in Cuddalore and nearby areas, they said.