The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : 10 fibreglass boats given to fishermen

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 03, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Others

10 fibreglass boats given to fishermen

By Our Staff Reporter

SIRKAZHI, MARCH 2. The SOS Children's Villages of India - Chatnath Homes today donated 10 fibreglass boats with nets to the fishermen of Pudukuppam coastal village in Sirkazhi taluk in Nagapattinam district. The boats were handed over to the fishermen by Uma Narayanan, Managing Trustee of the SOS Children's Villages of India-Chatnath Homes, Chennai, in the presence of R. Kaliyamoorthy, Revenue Divisional Officer of Mayiladuturai and officials of Fisheries and Revenue departments, at a function in Pudukuppam village.

Mrs. Uma Narayanan said that the SOS Children's Villages of India-Chatnath Homes, a child care institution in Chennai, affiliated to the SOS Children's Villages of India, New Delhi, with the approval of the Government, was engaged in rehabilitating the entire Pudukuppam village and restoring the livelihood of the people. After the initial thrust of emergency relief work, the SOS Chatnath Homes has followed it up with sustainable rehabilitation work, she said.

Mrs. Narayanan pointed out that the SOS Chatnath Homes had already provided temporary shelters at Pudukuppam village and accommodated 143 affected families. Besides, a community hall, water facility, a children's park, etc., were provided to them, she said.

She said that as per the agreement with the community and local panchayat leaders, the SOS Chatnath Homes had decided to provide 30 fibreglass boats with out board motors and nets, each costing Rs.1.65 lakhs, to the fishermen for a cluster of every four families in the village. Today, 10 fibreglass boats were handed over to the fishermen to benefit 40 families to restart their livelihood and the remaining boats would be handed over to them in due course.

Mrs. Narayanan pointed out that this project was possible because of the generous contributions by several donors like English Freemason, the employees and management of Needle Industries (India) Private Limited, American Charity Foundation - Houston, Messrs Gustav Hensel GMBH and Company, KG and Messrs Transasia Biomedicals Limited.

Mr. Kaliyamoorthy, in his speech, stressed the need for putting cement flooring in the temporary shelters. He appealed to the fishermen to venture into the sea and resume fishing activity and urged the villages to cooperate with the Government and the NGOs.

After getting the fiberglass boats from the SOS Chatnath Homes, the fishermen ventured into the sea as a token of resuming their work.

K.V. Srinivasan, District Grand Secretary, Freemason, G. Rangachari, Assistant District Grand Master, Freemason, Dr. S. Balasubramanian, Dr. David Baskar and Dr.R.Arunagiri, Master, secretary and treasurer, respectively of Freemason, Thanjavur and others took part.

M. Srinivas, Village Director of SOS Children's Villages of India - Chatnath Homes, Chennai, explained the welfare activities including construction of permanent houses to the fishermen. Prof. C. Maharajan, principal, Poompuhar College, Ayyappan, president of Agani panchayat, Siva Manimekalai, president of Kaveripoompattinam panchayat and others spoke.

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