Nepal Co-op Chief thanks Awasthi and Balu

The 25th April quake which claimed about 9000 lives and numbed Nepal also saw a unique response from the global cooperative fraternity which just rushed to help the quake affected people, remembered Chairman of National Cooperative Federation of Nepal Mr Keshav Prasad Badal.

Badal felt for the first time, as was obvious from his talks to this correspondent, that he belonged to the proud community of what is known as the cooperative movement. He thanked everybody but reserved special words of praise for two individuals –Dr U S Awasthi MD of IFFCO and Balu Aiyer Regional Director of ICA(A-P).

Readers would recall that the number of cooperators who lost their lives counted 1007 and those injured numbered more than 15 hundred. Nepal has a thriving cooperative movement with about 320 district cooperative units. It has 18 central cooperative unions affiliated to the NCFN of which Badal is the Chairman. There are also 31,000 Primary Cooperative units scattered across the country. It was due to a huge presence of this sector that many cooperators and cooperatives got affected during the April quake.

”Soon after the earthquake I received a phone call and the man on the other side was Dr US Awasthi, recalled Badal.” He was very consoling and offered to lend all possible help to the quake victims, I cannot forget,” an emotional Badal added. Another IFFCO Director and ICA Board member Aditya Yadav called soon after and also promised all help, Badal added.

Later they sent 10 thousand bags containing numerous items meant for use for the quake victims. Each bag contained 16 items. Tents, blankets, mats, rice, dal, sugar, salt and even items such as candle or match box were there in each bag, he added.

I also do not have words to express my gratitude to the ICA in general and its regional Director Mr Balu Aiyer in particular. The help from the Chinese cooperatives was routed through the ICA and Balu played an important role. Readers would know that the Chinese central cooperative offered 50 thousand US dollars to Nepal.

Balu came to Nepal and did not restrict himself merely to discussions in the office. He toured the affected areas and especially the damaged cooperative buildings taking an up close view of them. His feedback to the headquarters strengthened the case for support in the cooperative circles around the world, felt Badal.