Extending a helping hand to the victims of the natural calamity in Uttarakhand, Mata Amritanandamayi Math will donate Rs.50 crore for building 500 houses, Swami Amritaswarupananda, the Math's vice-chairman said here Tuesday. Besides, the Math will also adopt 101 villages across the country.

 

 Swami Amritaswarupananda said Rs.50 crore will be utilised to build 500 houses in 42-selected villages in Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi districts which were hit the most in the flood-related depredation that followed the June 16 cloud-burst.

 

 “We will invest another Rs.150 crore for adopting 101 villages across India in order to make them self-reliant and thriving,” he said.

 

 Both the Uttarakhand reconstruction and the 101 village-adoption programme will be officially launched during Amritavarsham60, which will be held in the ashram complex at Vallikkavu in Kerala.

 

 The floods that hit Uttarakhand and large areas of Himachal Pradesh and western Uttar Pradesh – an area of almost 20,000 square kilometres – in June this year, resulted in a huge loss of human life. 

 

 Swami Amritaswarupananda told IANS that the Math is planning to adopt two villages in Africa as well, adding that when they adopt any village they ensure every villager has a house, proper drinking water, primary school and healthcare and pension for widows.

 

 The Math already has an orphanage in Kenya.

 

 –Indo-Asian News Service