Indian PM's Relief Fund Collects One Billion Rupees For Earthquake VictimsMore than one billion rupees (US$21.7 million) has so far poured into Indian Prime Minister's Relief Fund following an appeal made by Atal Bihari Vajpayee a fortnight ago to donate generously for helping earthquake victims in west India's Gujarat state, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported here on Monday.This didn't include the relief sent directly by the people to the Gujarat state government and collected by non-governmental organizations, a Prime Minister's Office spokesman was quoted as saying. The January 26 earthquake, India's worst in 50 years with a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale, claimed nearly 20,000 lives and caused property damages worth some 4.5 billion U.S. dollars. Vajpayee has been taking keen interest in the collection of relief funds out of his busy schedule and he has been spending at least one hour a day to receive checks from donors, the spokesman noted. The prime minister will continue to do so for quite some time in view of the tremendous response to his appeal, he added. |
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