No links to stir,work limited to tsunami relief: NGOs

The government’s action against TDA and TMSSS began in the second week of November,three months after the sit-in protest started at Koodankulam. The Union Home Ministry sent a 32-point questionnaire to the NGOs seeking details about foreign aid received by them since 2006-07,details of expenses,annual account statements and consolidated audit reports.

A two-member team from the MHA reached Tuticorin,inspected the documents and conducted on-site inspections regarding utilisation of funds. About 10 days back,the TDA was informed that its foreign contribution (FC) account with the Bank of Baroda in Tuticorin was frozen.

According to the documents submitted to the Home Ministry,TDA received Rs 3.60 crore as foreign contributions in 2010-11 fiscal. In the current fiscal,it received Rs 1.93 crore till December 31. The donors are mainly from Italy,Germany,France,USA and Canada.

Under expenditure,the TDA has listed maintenance cost of priests,welfare of orphans,repairing places of worship and educational institutions,rural development activities and organising camps for drug addicts.

TDA spokesperson Fr William Santhanam said they had not undertaken any activity in Koodankulam and its surrounding areas in the current fiscal. In the last fiscal,they had constructed a toilet,at a cost of Rs 1.25 lakh,at the church-run primary school at Koodankulam,he said.

“How can the government allege that we distributed money to the protestors? We have strictly complied with the guidelines on foreign funding and submitted our audits every year,” he said.

“More funds came from foreign countries for tsunami rehabilitation. Then,the government wanted all NGOs to step up relief activities and did not inspect the FC accounts. Now,they have come up with an agenda,’’ said Santhanam. Stating that his diocese had nothing to hide,he said,“we challenge the government to prove the charge”.

* Rural Uplift Centre

On February 21,the RUC,which has two priests and a couple of Christian laymen on its board,filed a revision petition saying the government’s crackdown was arbitrary and contrary to law. It also pleaded to the Home Minister to lift the action against them.

RUC secretary Maria James said they had nothing to do with the protests. “From 2005 to 2007,RUC handed over fishing boats,engines and nets to fishermen hit by the tsunami at Idinthakarai,where the residents are now holding the sit-in protests. But after completing that project in March 2007,we have not gone to the area with any scheme.’’

According to its records submitted to the MHA,in 2010-11,RUC got Rs 2.01 crore as foreign contributions,out of which it used up Rs 1.94 crore. In the current fiscal,RUC got Rs 1.76 crore till December 31. James said his organisation had not received any funds from the US since its inception in 1981.

Multi-Purpose Social Service Society

The TMSSS has not received any communication from the ministry after being asked to furnish some documents before February 26 this year. Denying that funds had been diverted to the protestors at Koodankulam,TMSSS director Fr Maria Valan said: “At the villages near the power plant,we donated boats,fishing nets and other fishing equipment after the tsunami. This post-tsunami intervention of the diocese has declined in subsequent years,as clearly demonstrated in our accounts.’’

The priest said the TMSSS had not spent any funds in the Koodankulam region ever since the agitation started August last year.

As per the data provided to the MHA,the TMSSS received Rs 69.40 crore between 2004 and 2011. The bulk of the amount went towards relief and rehabilitation of the tsunami victims. For instance,it got Rs 22.89 crore in 2005-06 of which Rs 20.64 was as tsunami fund. The next year,it got Rs 29.94 crore,which included Rs 25.05 crore for tsunami relief.

Subsequently,as the tsunami relief funds gradually decreased,the total funds received by TMSSS reduced to Rs 6.22 crore (Rs 3.20 for tsunami relief) in 2007-08,and Rs 2.16 crore,Rs 1.89 crore and Rs 2.51 crore in the following years — no funds were received under tsunami relief in the last three years.

In the last fiscal,TMSSS got Rs 4.83 lakh from Catholic Relief Service,Baltimore,USA,which,according to the organisation,was spent exclusively on the Sri Lankan refugees at three camps run by the state government in Tuticorin.

According to the documents,TMSSS received funds from Italy,Spain,Switzerland and the US,with Italy being the biggest donor. Apart from these,TMSS also gets fund from Caritas and Save a Family Plan,which has international footprints.

NGOs diverted funds: Chidambaram
New Delhi: Home Minister P Chidambaram refused to name the four NGOs against whom action had been taken,saying it was “not proper to reveal the names at this time”.

Trying to delink the action against the NGOs with Koodankulam protests,he said: “I have not said these NGOs are linked to the protests in Koodankulam. That is for you to make that connection. Following the inspection of accounts of NGOs,we have reason to believe funds were being diverted by these four NGOs… the funds were not being used for the purpose they were received. Prima facie there is evidence to register cases under violation of FCRA.”

On the German national who was deported,he said: “There is enough material and evidence to show that he had associated himself with what is a semi-political protest movement. His conduct was not consistent with what is expected of a tourist. After his last visit to India,a lookout notice had been issued against him. But despite that,he managed to come to India and was found to be staying in that area.”

ENS