Oli studies Kutch turnaround plan post-2001 quakes

Keen to rebuild his country after last year’s devastating earthquake, Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli visited the Kutch district in Gujarat to learn firsthand its turnaround after a similar disaster in 2001.

A flood of investments post-January 26, 2001 killer earthquake transformed Kutch into a big industrial hub from a heap of rubble in the catastrophe.

Reports suggest that the officials of Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) and Bhuj Area Development Authority (BADA) gave a detailed account of the  district’s turn-around to the Nepal PM.

State Governor OP Kohli and Gujarat’s Health and Kutch in-charge minister Shanker Chaudhary were also present during the presentation.

The Prime Minister later visited the Kutch Civil Hospital, a modern state-of-the-art facility constructed  post-2001 tremor. He also visited a rehabilitation site in Bhimasar village of Kutch district for first hand account. Oli was accompanied by his wife Radhika Sakya, Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa, Finance Minister Vishnuprasad Paudel, Home Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet and a host of top bureaucrats and officials of the Nepal Government. The Nepal PM –on a six-day visit to India- left Kutch for Mumbai later in the evening, from where he is slated to fly back to his home country.