Million dollars in medical supplies and clothes raised by Canadian Indians lying idle in Bombay port
By Asian Pacific News Service
Close to a million dollars in relief aid that was raised by Canadian Indians is lying idle in a port in Mumbai (Bombay), India. The relief goods sent by Canada-based non-resident Indians for Gujarat's earthquake victims has been held at the Kandla port since May 25, embroiled in bureaucratic and political problems.
Gujarat-based relief workers said that the Gujarat government had been vacillating about issuing a registration certificate to the Non-Government Organization to which the shipment was addressed. Activist Asghar Ali Engineer told local media that the shipment had been sent by Human Concern International, a 22-year-old human rights group based in Canada.
The consignment contains medical supplies, household items, clothes and footwear for the riot victims. The shipment is addressed to the Hajiani Fatima Education and Medical Trust, Sangawadi, at Mundhra Taluka in Kutch town. According to HCI executive director Kaleem Akhtar, the group has now roped in the Bombay Patel Welfare Society (BPWS) to help it salvage the shipment.
BPWS president Mohammed Fansiwala said, "The customs department has been raising query after query." By contrast, after the Gujarat earthquake, relief shipments were exempted from import duty and didn't require either valuation certificates or RBI clearance.
The Gujarat earthquake on January 26, 2001 occurred as India celebrated Republic Day. The Indian sub-continent reverberated to the worst earthquake in India's history, which measured 7.9. on the Richter scale.
The epicenter was in the northern province of Gujarat. The city of Bhuj where 150,000 people lived was turned into rubble with hardly a building left standing.
Businesses were ruined, infrastructure torn apart and basic services were rendered non-existent. Close to 15,000 people died in the incident. The state of Gujarat, while rebuilding over the last year, has also been the scene of violent religious riots.
