This Tamil Nadu girl donates her ₹4,400 savings to crisis-hit Sri Lanka

In a laudable gesture, a girl from Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram has donated her piggy bank savings of ₹4,400 to Sri Lanka, which is suffering from its worst economic crisis. The girl along with her mother has handed over the savings to the district collector Shankar Lal Kumawat.

The girl said as Sri Lankan people are suffering due to the economic crisis, she decided to donate her savings.

Praising her initiative, the high commission of India in Colombo tweeted, “Strength of bond between the peoples of India and Sri Lanka on display!!!!” 

On Tuesday, chief minister MK Stalin announced a contribution of ₹1 crore from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to the state fund for Sri Lanka.

DMK MPs have decided to donate their one-month salary to the Tamil Nadu CM’s public relief fund. Stalin had earlier sought assistance from the Centre to supplement the aid being sent from India to Sri Lanka. He expressed gratitude to the external affairs ministry for accepting the state’s request, highlighting that the situation was “pitiable” in the island nation.

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Stalin has also appealed to the people to donate to the Tamil Nadu government’s fund to buy essentials to support people Sri Lanka who are suffering from a dearth of food and medicines.

India has supplied nearly 40,000 MT of petrol to Sri Lanka to help ease the fuel shortage in the country, which is reeling under acute food and electricity shortages, propelled by the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing the country to seek help from its neighbours.

In a special cabinet meeting on Friday, President Gotabya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency with effect from midnight. This was the second emergency declared in just over a month. Rajapaksa had declared an emergency on April 1 also after a mass protest opposite his private residence. He had revoked it earlier on April 5.

Sri Lanka’s defence ministry has appealed to the public to assist it in managing the current economic crisis and unrest in the country with “utmost intelligence and patience” and also cancelled the leaves of all security personnel.