India handed over a consignment of 40,000 family packs of relief material to the ICRC for displaced Tamils in war-ravaged northern Sri Lanka.
India on Thursday handed over a consignment of 40,000 family packs of relief material to the ICRC for displaced Tamils in war-ravaged northern Sri Lanka.
"We are today handing over to the International Committee of the Red Cross the second consignment of relief materials from India consisting of 40,000 family packs to be distributed to the IDPs from North Sri Lanka," Indian high commissioner to Sri Lanka Alok Prasad said here.
He said the humanitarian aid testified to the commitment of India towards providing assistance to the two lakh Tamil IDPs in Sri Lanka.
"This assistance is a reflection of India's continuing concern for the welfare of the conflict-affected IDPs, many of whom have managed to come out of the conflict-affected zone only within the last ten days," Prasad said.
India recently announced Rs 100 crore grant as humanitarian aid for the evacuees.
Prasad thanked the Sri Lankan government for facilitating the consignment and the ICRC for agreeing to distribute it.
"I am happy to note that this consignment has arrived in Colombo within a few days of the arrival of thousands of IDPs and reflects our commitment to respond urgently to the felt needs of the IDPs," Prasad said.
The consignment consists of over 1000 metric tons of assorted food items (including rice, pulses and sugar), personal hygiene products, clothing articles (including 'sarees', 'dhotis', 'lungis', towels and bed-sheets) and cooking utensils (including steel cooking pots, plates, tumblers and spoons).
He said the food items will cover the needs of 40,000 families for approximately two weeks and assured that a similar consignment of relief assistance will follow soon.
"It will cover the food requirements of the entire population in IDP camps for about two weeks. We hope within that period to bring in similar consignment of relief assistance," the Indian High Commissioner said.
"You would recall that in October 2008, we had handed over a similar consignment of 80,000 family packs to ICRC. That consignment arrived within a couple of weeks of the decision taken by the two governments to cooperate to provide humanitarian assistance to the IDPs from the North," he said.
The consignment weighs nearly 1000 tonnes and is valued at Rs 61.6 crore.
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