Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Wednesday flagged off the first consignment of relief materials to Sri Lankan, amid crisis. Stalin flagged off the ship carrying 9,000 tonnes of rice, 200 tonnes of milk powder and 24 tonnes of essential medicines.
According to the report, the total value of this relief is Rs 45 crore. Earlier the CM said that he will send 40,000 tonnes of rice, 500 tonnes of milk powder and life-saving drugs to Sri Lanka in batches from the central government. He also asked people to donate humanitarian grounds to Sri Lanka.
Earlier, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament on Wednesday that the country was facing a shortage of fuel and gas due to the economic crisis and that an investigation was underway to use some of the financial aid to buy fuel. The World Bank has given 160 million dollar. The grant is likely to be from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Also, the money received from the World Bank cannot be used to buy fuel. However, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said, "We are trying to find out whether some of it can be used to buy fuel."