Vellanakani,August 19: Mr. Lancy D Cunha, the National President of the All India Catholic Union (AICU) and Dr. John Dayal, Official Spokesman said that with a heavy heart and rising alarm, the AICU notices the tragedy in Kerala as also in parts of Karnataka, with floods taking a heavy toll in human life.
The AICU urged the Prime minister Narendra Modi to declare this once-in-a-century floods a national disaster, and to immediately release the funds and material help demanded by the state governments to cope with the calamitous situation in most parts of the coastal states.
The AICU said this in resolutions passed in the working committee and annual general meetings held in the pilgrim town of Vellankani in Tamil Nadu. Vellankani, home to the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Good Health, and which was devastated in the 2004 tsunami. It once again draws pilgrims from all faiths.
The AICU has a large membership in the State of Kerala which is home to all three Catholic Rites, the Latin, the Syro Malabar and the Syro Malankara. The union extended its support and cooperation to the heads of the three Rites and other denominations, as also to the people of the other faiths. It also extended support to the people in the Coorg region of Karnataka which had also suffered much damage.
The AICU mourned the passing away of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, former Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK head M Karunanidhi and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee in recent days, terming them a loss to the public life of the nation.
In the biennial elections held at the annual general body meeting on Saturday, in Mangalore’s Lancy da Cunha was unanimously elected National President for a second term till 2020. The current national vice president, Elias Vaz of Goa was also re-elected for a second term. The two will lead the Union in the centennial celebrations which culminate in 2019 in the national programme in New Delhi. Said Dr John Dayal official spokeman in the press statement issued today.
