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Friday, May 27, 2005

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Tsunami relief: Clinton's pat for India

Special Correspondent

`No death due to contaminated water'

NEW DELHI: The U.N. Special Envoy for Tsunami Relief and former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, on Thursday lauded the Indian Government's work in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster and discussed with the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, ways and means to improve and hasten rehabilitation efforts.

The Home Minister had a 30-minute talk with the former U.S. President at a hotel here and the Home Secretary, V.K. Duggal, gave a power-point presentation of relief and rehabilitation work mounted by the Government in tsunami-affected areas, particularly the worst-hit Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Mr. Duggal and other senior Home Ministry officials briefed Mr. Clinton for nearly an hour. "What we were able to talk about is what we can do to do a better job (on rehabilitation) more quickly,'' Mr. Clinton told reporters.

He said that money had already been committed by the international community and the Indian Government had done a "great job in the aftermath of the tsunami. There was no outbreak of disease, no starvation and you had nobody dying of contaminated water. Within a year or so, we had great long-term rehabilitation projects.''

Eager to meet victims

Mr. Clinton said he was "eager'' to meet tsunami-affected people when he tours Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu on Friday.

"I would like to talk to people to know their ideas how to involve local people in populations that are often left out (on the basis of) class, gender, and so on,'' Mr. Clinton said. He said the devastated economy in tsunami-hit areas had to be brought back on the rails. "But it is easy to talk, hard to do anywhere in the world,'' he added.

Meets Manmohan, Vajpayee

The former U.S. President later called on the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, at 7 Race Course Road. The meeting lasted for about half-an-hour, official sources said. Mr. Clinton also called on the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi.

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