By Thupten Shastri
Kathmandu January 11 – The US ambassador to Nepal James Morairy and the Chief of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nepal Abraham Abraham have laid the foundation stone of new Tibetan reception center in Kathmandu today. The Tibetan reception center which looks after the Tibetan refugees fleeing into exile across the Himalayas every year has been facing shortage of residential rooms causing accommodation problem in the winters as more Tibetans arrive during the cold months. At a ceremony venerable Drupthop Rinpoche performed the Buddhist ground breaking rituals, the US ambassador laid the foundation stone. He also briefly spoke to over one thousand Tibetan refugees currently stranded at the Tibetan reception center in kathmandu due to Nepal government’s restriction to issue them transit permit to India since 25th October last year. The US ambassador said;
“It is an honor for me to be here today to represent my government. We understand the conditions in which you live and we think that this new building is very urgently needed. The bond between the people of Tibet and the people of the United States grows stronger all the time. I hope to see this project successfully completed.” The US ambassador also praised and thanked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for supporting the Tibetan refugees for many years.
While responding to reporters the head of the Tibetan reception center Mr. Lhudup Dorjee said that the reception center has been facing shortage of rooms for the new arrivals from Tibet and that they planned to build accommodation for some 250 more people. The project is mainly being financed by US government and partly by the Tibetan exile government in Dharamsala, India. Also present during the ground breaking ceremonial function were the staff of the Lutharane World Federation, an international non-governmental organization which became responsible for supervising the TRC under the directions and guidance of the UNHCR after the Dalai lama’s office in Nepal was closed by Nepal government in February last year.
The US ambassador, the UNHCR chief and others also toured each and every sections of the Tibetan reception center and observed its activities.
