New Delhi, May 05: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was today moved, when a group of children from Kutch in Gujarat, orphaned by the devastating earthquake two years back, narrated their experiences. Vajpayee heard from a few children, part of a group of 78 who called on him, as to how the killer quake came as a bolt from the blue on January 26, 2001 when they were participating in the Republic Day celebrations in their school. The children are now being brought up by the Arya Samaj, Gandhidham in their "jeevan prabhat" project which is also taking care of eight women who were widowed due to the tremors which brought unprecedented death and destruction in parts of Gujarat, especially in Kutch region.
The Prime Minister told the children that it would be a harrowing task for them to overcome the separation of the near and dear ones, but now it was imperative for them to start a new life by making new relations. Hailing the work of the Arya Samaj and its founder Swami Dayanand Saraswati, he announced a donation of Rs 50 lakh for the project. Bureau Report