India Development and Relief Fund - Handing over of 248 permanent houses to Tsunami victims in Keechankuppam Village, Nagapattinam

Programme Report

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Handing over of 248 permanent houses to Tsunami victims in Keechankuppam Village, Nagapattinam.
Programme report

Keechankuppam was the worst affected Village in entire Tamilnadu in the Tsunami tragedy. More than 3000 lives were lost in this village alone and the entire village was completely destroyed.

An emotional and colorful function was held at Keechankuppam Village in the outskirts of Nagapattinam Town in Tamilnadu on Thursday 6th July 2006 to mark the handing over of 248 permanent houses to the victims of Tsunami attack.

Though the actual function was scheduled from 1000 Hrs to 1300 Hrs on the 6th, the religious ceremonies like gruha pravesh, go puja and vastu shanty puja etc were conducted on the 5th and early morning of 6th July.

The newly built homes were all brightly painted and richly decorated with palm leaf-festoons and colorful rangoli.

Swami Goutamananda, President Ramakrishna Mutt Chennai first inaugurated the majestic arch erected at the entrance of VYASAR NAGAR; the name given to the new colony. Very appropriately, a statue of Maharishi Ved Vyas is also erected at the entrance in a small but beautiful garden.

After the inauguration of the arch bearing the name of the new colony, Swami ji and all the dignitaries proceeded to the stage. The dignitaries included Shri Mohan ji Bhagwat – Gen. Secretary RSS; Shri Raman – Deputy Collector, Nagapattinam District; Shri Radha I.A.S. – Chief Planning Officer, Nagapattinam District; Shri Kothandaraman – President Nagapattinam Municipality, Dr Shankar Tatwawadi – Overseas Coordinator HSS; Shri Shyam Parande – Secretary Sewa International; Dr Senkottayan – State President Seva Bharathi Tamilnadu, Shri Rajendran – Secretary RSS South Tamilnadu and others.

After invocation prayers and a welcome address by Shri Rajendran ji, Swami Gowtamananda inaugurated the plaque bearing the names of the main donors of the I phase of permanent housing project viz IDRF - USA, Sewa International –UK and Sewa International USA Chapter.

Speaking on the occasion Swami ji applauded the exemplary spirit of solidarity shown by the volunteers and office bearers of the three main donor organizations in helping the victims of the Tsunami disaster in the most appropriate way by giving them permanent shelter which is a basic necessity.

Swami ji also praised the numerous selfless volunteers of Seva Bharathi – Tamilnadu for helping the Tsunami victims at every stage since the attack on 26th December 2006. He also blessed Seva Bharathi for many future successes in their seva missions.

Shri Mohan ji Bhagwat who spoke on the occasion remarked that the spirit with which Seva Bharathi volunteers rendered seva was quite different from others. Seva Bharathi renders service in the spirit of ‘Service to man is service to Almighty and Nation‘ and not on any other considerations. Also the volunteers feel that it is their duty to give their time and energies to the needy sections of the society.

He added that Seva Bharathi was successful in kindling the spirit of service in the recipients as well, unlike usual cases where the recipients keep permanently receiving and are never made to participate and share their time and energy for service activities. Shri Mohanji handed over a model of one block of four houses to Shri Radha symbolically to mark the handing over of the fully complete 248 permanent houses in the I phase.

Shri Radha, Shri Raman and Shri Kothandaraman who all spoke briefly at the function were unanimous in applauding the brilliant spirit of selfless service demonstrated by Seva Bharathi volunteers.

Dr Shankar Tatwawadi ji who spoke on the occasion on behalf of Sewa International – UK said he was very satisfied with the speedy and efficient construction work that had been accomplished by Seva Bharathi.

The entire fisher folk of Keechankuppam and Akkarapettai who attended this function thanked Seva Bharathi and all big and small donors for the unique gesture of compassion showered on them.

The function was also attended by many important office bearers of Seva Bharathi Tamilnadu and other places and many prominent personalities from Nagapattinam.

Some Highlights

IDRF – USA has funded the cost of 100 homes in Phase I.
Sewa International - UK has funded the cost of 70 homes in Phase I.
Sewa USA has funded the cost of 40 homes in Phase I.
The site is located on the bank of back-waters; fishermen can bring their boats to the backyard of their colony.
The entire bricks and sand were procured from distant locations so as to avoid the use of poor quality material available in Nagapattinam due to salinity caused after Tsunami.
Since the water available in Nagapattinam is too high in salinity, even water used for construction purposes was procured at premium cost.
Each home measures 390 sft as against the 325 sft recommended by the government.
Many private testing agencies were employed by Seva Bharathi to ascertain the quality of work at every stage of construction.
The work of Phase I was allotted to 7 competent contractors so as to ensure the completion of the work on time.
A park, a community centre and a medical centre will be soon constructed to provide necessities needed by the residents.

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