Rehabilitation : West Bengal: 16 houses built by our Purulia centre for poor people at Jhalda, Purulia district, in collaboration with the Government of West Bengal, were formally handed over to the beneficiaries on 5 September.

Distress Relief: The following centres distributed various items, shown in brackets, to needy people: Baranagar Math, Kolkata (430 saris, 40 dhotis and 180 children’s garments), Belgharia, Kolkata (3532 saris, 2688 dhotis, 203 lungis, 2717 shirts, 2592 pants, 1050 frocks, 1382 salwar-kamij [women’s garments], 1469 woollen garments and 2408 blankets among 2245 poor families in 6 blocks of Hooghly, Paschim Medinipur, Purba Medinipur and Purulia districts), Jalpaiguri (500 saris and 200 children’s garments), Nagpur (1011 school uniforms, 3033 notebooks and 1011 pens to 1011 needy students of 22 schools), Naora (140 saris, 400 lungis and 265 children’s garments), Rajkot (3000 kg wheat flour, 1500 kg khichudi [cooked food], 150 kg edible oil, 75 kg spices, 150 kg sugar, 30 kg tea and 300 chaddars among families affected by heavy rainfall in Bhuj district), Silchar (912 dhotis and 1189 saris), Vrindaban (800 kg rice, 800 kg wheat flour, 400 kg salt, 200 kg mustard oil, 200 kg dal and 100 kg sugar).

Flood Relief: Odisha: Heavy, incessant rains in some parts of Odisha in the month of September caused widespread floods, affecting thousands of families in the State.  Our three branch centres in Odisha conducted primary relief work among flood-affected families.  Details of relief operations are given below.

(a)  Bhubaneswar centre distributed 13,255 kg chattu (gram flour) and 5663 kg biscuits among 9200 flood-affected families of 48 villages in 6 blocks of Jajpur and Cuttack districts.

(b) Puri Math centre distributed 3500 kg chira (rice flakes), 175 kg gur (molasses), 70 kg milk powder, biscuits, soap-bars, detergent powder, 1400 mosquito-coils, etc among 700 flood-affected families of Satyabadi and Puri Sadar blocks in Puri district.

(c)  Puri Mission centre distributed 14,795 kg chira, 892 kg sugar, 250 kg biscuits, 84 kg milk powder, 2544 candles and 1800 matchboxes among 2959 flood-affected families of 30 villages in Gop and Delanga blocks of Puri district.

West Bengal: (a) Our Malda centre continued its primary relief work among the flood-affected people in Malda district. The centre distributed 6100 kg rice, 731 kg dal (pulses), 1024 kg biscuits, 6716 kg chira, 3500 kg salt, 548 kg edible oil, 1636 kg milk powder, 2300 kg potatoes, 920 saris, 230 dhotis and 257 lungis among 352 flood-affected families of 12 villages in Ratua and Harishchandrapur blocks of the district.

(b) Swamiji’s Ancestral House & Cultural Centre, Kolkata, distributed 200 saris and 200 dhotis to flood-affected people of Athpur and Manipur villages in Sandeshkhali-II block of North 24-Parganas district.