'Kutch bandh' planned during PM's visit

By Manas Dasgupta

BHUJ (Kutch district), MAY 31. A curfew-like situation awaits the Prime Minister, Mr. Vajpayee, when he comes here on Sunday for a two-day visit to the earthquake-hit Kutch district.

He will have to face an embarrassing situation for no fault of his, but due to the failure of the Gujarat Government to provide a satisfactory rehabilitation package for the earthquake victims.

The `Group 2001,' the protest group formed by prominent citizens of Anjar, one of the four worst-hit towns in the district, together with the citizens committees of Bhuj, Bhachau and Rapar, has given a call for `Kutch bandh' on Sunday to greet the Prime Minister.

The convener of the Group 2001, Dr. Shyam Sunder, a prominent surgeon of the town, has written a letter to the Prime Minister clarifying that the protest was not against his visit but against the State administration. The people of Kutch rather look forward to the Prime Minister's intervention to seek a better reconstruction package.

The Group 2001 had earlier sent a couple of thousand letters from the citizens, written in their own blood, to the President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan, requesting him to direct the Keshubhai Patel Government to revise the reconstruction package which it claimed had failed to satisfy the urban people in the district.

Dr. Sunder said the people were glad that the President had at least promptly replied to their letters, unlike the State Government, which failed even to respond to their pleas but nothing further had happened.

The state administration is making all possible efforts to convince the people against observing bandh on Sunday but the agitationists are not satisfied.

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