Kerala - Kollam   

Mata's gesture lauded

Staff Reporter

KOLLAM: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Sunday formally entrusted to the State Government a batch of 500 houses constructed at Alapad by the Mata Amritanandamayi Math. The houses have been built for those who lost their houses in last year's tsunami disaster. Mr. Kalam who received the certificate of completion of the houses from Mata Amritanandamayi, at a function at the Math, handed over the certificate to Minister for Revenue K.M. Mani.

In his address to the gathering at the function, Mr. Kalam said that he was extremely happy to hand over the houses to the State Government. He said that in times of difficulty and calamities, true leaders would be at the spot. Mata Amritanandamayi reached the spot at the crucial time when the tsunami struck Alapad region. She led a team of devotees to rescue as many victims as possible and arranged food and shelter in all the affected areas.

In her benedictory address, Mata Amritanandamayi said that behind the completion of the houses lay the story of compassion and selflessness. Though man cannot thwart disasters like the tsunami, the burden could be mitigated if people came together and helped rebuild the lives of the affected. This is what the Math did. She said that people should be able to construct a bridge of love, through selfless service, to bring everyone together. With the completion of the 500 houses, the Math has built 2,000 houses in all for the tsunami-hit. At Alapad alone, 1,000 houses have been constructed.

As many as 4,200 houses are now being constructed by the Math.

Apart from the victims in Kerala, the beneficiaries include victims in Tamil Nadu, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Sri Lanka.

At the function, Mr. Mani thanked the Mata on behalf of the State Government for constructing the houses. Minister for Labour Babu Divakaran, Minister for Fisheries Dominic Presentation and Karunagapally MLA Rajan Babu were also present at the meeting. Swamy Amritaswarupananda Puri, vice-chairman of the Math, welcomed the gathering.

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Mata's gesture lauded

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