Ooty: The 58 household members of Nilgiris Tibetan Refugee Welfare Association in Ooty celebrated the 15th anniversary of the US Congressional Gold Medal being conferred upon His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. For more than four decades, members of the Tibetan Refugee Welfare Association have established their own distinct identity while engaging in sporadic challenges of day-to-day survival needs, including encroachment by local vendors.
To participate in this pious occasion and look into the grievances of the Nilgiris Tibetan Refugee Welfare Association members, Sh. J.P. Urs and CRO Jigme Tsultrim left Bengaluru via Mysuru for Ooty on 16th October. After attending the morning prayer and formal program at the hall, Sh. Tempa Dhargye, President of the Association welcomed the gathering and shared the contemporary problems existing members face. Sh. In his brief presentation, J.P Urs expressed his joy of being part of this celebration while offering unconditional support for any problems Tibetans face in his region.
Followed by this, Sh. J.P. Urs, Regional Convener, CGTC-I; Jigmey Tsultrim, CRO; Sh. Tempa Dhargye, Ms Pasang and Jigmey, Members of the Association, were given an appointment with Sh. A. Raja, Hon’ble MP, Lok Sabha, during which the matter of illegal encroachment of local vendors and other grievances were apprised. The Hon’ble MP, after having listened to their grievances, took cognizance of the matter and directed the respective authorities to do the needful at the priorities.
The delegation team next visited the office of the District Collector of Nilgiris and met with Ms Usha, OSD to DC and apprised her about the same. Later in the day, under the name of Prof. V. Anto and Sh. J.P. Urs presented a press release on the matter and addressed the media representative organised at hotel Tamil Nadu, Ooty. Addressing the press, Sh. J.P. Urs highlighted the present problems faced by Tibetan Refugee Welfare Association and how tolerably they have been silent for these couple of years. He made it clear that the people of Ooty have certainly embraced the existence of these Tibetan Refugees in Ooty, whereas a handful of local vendors have been hampering their pursuit of survival needs which requires the interference of local administration and support from the media in this regard.
Along with Sh. Urs, Ms Pasang interacted with press people in the local Tamil language, reflecting the existent nuisance and bullying by a handful of local vendors.
Sh. J.P. Urs thanked the people of Ooty, particularly the media people, who turned up in huge numbers despite being informed of this press invitation at short notice. With the end of this engagement, Sh. Urs and CRO left Ooty for Mysuru as there was another line of meeting fixed with DC Mysuru on 18th October 2022.
-Reported by CRO, Bangalore