Clinton road show in quake-hit Kutch today

Clinton road show in quake-hit Kutch today
AGENCIES

ANJAR (Gujarat), APRIL 3: A year after his landmark official visit to the country, former US President Bill Clinton arrives in Kutch on Wednesday on a hurricane private visit kindling great expectations among the quake-affected people of this backward district of Gujarat.

During his four-hour whistle stop tour, Clinton is scheduled to visit Ratnal, a village totally devastated by the January 26 killer quake, and Khatri Chowk in Anjar town, where about 200 children taking part in a Republic Day parade were crushed to death.

While no “Nyala-type” interaction with people involving dance and music is scheduled on this sombre occasion, the former President is expected to address a small gathering at a hospital in Bhuj.

If not anything else, most people in the district believe the visit would help at least to attract worldwide media attention towards the miserable condition of the quake-hit.

Even the Bhuj Punervas Samiti, spearheading an agitation against the state government’s “failure” in providing quake relief, hoped that the former US President would highlight this problem at national and international level.“He can (put) pressure on the government and international donor agencies,” said Ajay Pandya, a social worker.

But for Salim, a taxi driver in Anjar, it is nothing more than a “guided tour”.“So many VVIPs have come and gone but our lot remains the same,” he says bitterly.