India, Lanka to send aid

Hindustan Times: India began sending relief supply to Japan on Sunday. Punjab and Haryana state governments did help in the special procurement for the Ministry of External Affairs’ initial aid plan to send blankets to the victims in Japan. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will dispatch a team of trained rescue workers and a medical team.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa directed Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera to dispatch the teams at the earliest.  Reports added that Rajapaksa also directed the Secretary to send US dollars one million as a donation by the people of Sri Lanka.

Woolen clothes as well as blankets will be sent to residents in the coastal city of Sendai in the Miyagi prefecture.    “India sending wool, good quality blankets for the people of Sendai and others affected by Japan quake. The first plane load being readied,” Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao tweeted. The initial plan is to send 22 tonnes of woollen blankets.

“The state governments of Punjab and Haryana did pitch in to help the procurement”, a government official added.