The Hindu : National : Declare it a national calamity: Advani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 30, 2004

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National

Declare it a national calamity: Advani

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 29. The Bharatiya Janata Party president, L.K. Advani, has suggested that the Prime Minister call an all-party meeting to consider a detailed plan for relief and rehabilitation for the thousands of families affected by Sunday's tsunami disaster.

Mr. Advani, who returned here after a three-day tour of the affected areas in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, demanded that a national calamity be declared to enable, among other things, all Members of Parliament to contribute their constituency funds for relief and rehabilitation work in the affected areas. Under normal circumstances they can only spend the money in their constituencies.

He suggested that the Government consider a comprehensive coastal insurance scheme for fishermen covering their fishing equipment, their boats and their homes. He also said that it might be useful for the Government to think about implementing the recommendations of the National Committee on Disaster Management, set up soon after the 2001 Kutch earthquake. It had suggested that a specialised disaster response organisation be created. He also commended the expertise developed by the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, pointing out that its work in Kutch had won praise from international agencies.

He said that the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Jaswant Singh, had left for Kolkata today on his way to Port Blair. The party had collected 20 tons of relief material, including blankets, tents, food and medicines. The material is expected to reach the island tomorrow.

Mr. Advani said that his visit to the affected areas in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry and Kerala suggested that what the survivors needed was a guarantee of one month's livelihood, waiver of loans taken for boats and fishing equipment washed away by the tsunami, and fresh loans on easy terms to enable them to buy their equipment again and begin life afresh. He said he met many who had lost everything — they were without even a set of clothes.

RSS begins relief work

Separately, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh spokesperson, Ram Madhav, said that RSS volunteers had reached the affected areas and begun relief work in a big way. Tents had been supplied and food packets were being distributed and several relief camps were being managed by `swayamsevaks'. Two ambulances with doctors from Salem and Coimbatore had left for Nagapattinam, one of the worst affected areas. RSS volunteers were also actively engaged in relief work in Palam village in Kanyakumari where the community was predominantly Christian, he said.

Mr. Madhav added that from Karnataka 20 truck loads of relief materials had been sent to Tamil Nadu. A team of 14 doctors was also being sent to the State, which has suffered the most from the disaster.

`Let us stand united'

Our Chennai Special Correspondent reports:

Earlier, talking to mediapersons at the Chennai airport, Mr. Advanisaid that the need of the hour was to stand "united" to tackle the worst-ever tsunami disaster to sweep coastal India and 11 other nations."

"I think this is not the time to point an accusing finger on any political party or government. We will have to rise as one and be united to provide succour to the victims and offer help which would bring back normalcy in their livelihood," he said."We will have to tackle both politically and socially this unprecedented disaster which has been responsible for the biggest death toll," the BJP chief said.

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