Date:29/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/29/stories/2008102957310100.htm

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Contributions pour in for Sri Lankan Tamils

R.K. Radhakrishnan

— Photo: DIPR

FOR A CAUSE: Union Minister T.R. Baalu, Kanimozhi, MP, and others handing over cheques for the affected Sri Lankan Tamils to Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in Chennai.

CHENNAI: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Central and State Ministers, MPs and MLAs were among those who met Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to contribute towards providing relief materials to Sri Lankan Tamils, who have been affected by the ongoing war.

Mr. Karunanidhi made the appeal on Monday, and by noon on Tuesday, he had collected over Rs.25 lakh and Rs.35 lakh by late evening.

In his office and later in the evening at the party office, the Chief Minister had a steady stream of visitors, who came to contribute to the ‘Sri Lankan Tamils Relief Fund.’

Officials at the Chief Minister’s office explained that after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Mr.Karunanidhi, and told him that relief materials could be sent to Sri Lanka, the State government sought formal approval for collecting money.

“We are not going to send the money to Sri Lanka. We will purchase relief material and send it,” one official said. It will be routed through the Centre.

Mr. Karunanidhi handed over a cheque for Rs.10 lakh from his personal funds to Chief Secretary K.S.Sripathy. Union Ministers T.R. Baalu, A. Raja, S.S. Palanimanickam, S. Regupathy, K. Venkatapathy, Radhika Selvi and MP Kanimozhi contributed Rs.50,000 each, while State Ministers M.K. Stalin, K. Ponmudy, MPs Vasanthi Stanley, Jinnah, Krishnasamy and former Social Welfare Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna contributed Rs.25,000 each. Electricity Minister Arcot N.Veeraswami contributed his monthly salary, while Durai Murugan, E.V.Velu, KKSSR Ramachandran, Thangam Thennarasu and Vellakoil Saminathan gave Rs.22,000 each.

In his appeal, Mr.Karunanidhi had said that because of the war in Sri Lanka, many thousands of Tamils were in a pitiable state. They had lost most of their belongings, there was no guarantee to their lives and they had been forced to give up their means of livelihood. Their sufferings constituted a sad chapter in human history, he said. The relief materials would be sent at the earliest, he said.