India gifts 75 ambulances, 17 school buses to Nepali organisations

Kathmandu (IANS) India on Sunday gifted 75 ambulances and 17 school buses to various governmental and non-governmental, not-for-profit organisations working in the fields of health and education, spread across various districts of Nepal.

The keys were handed over by Ambassador Naveen Srivastava in the presence of Devendra Paudel, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, who also graced the event. Gifting of 75 ambulances also coincides with the India@75 celebrations being marked this year to commemorate 75 years of India's Independence, the Indian Embassy said.

In his remarks during the event, Ambassador Srivastava said that this has been one of the long-standing traditions of the Government of India under the Nepal-India Development Partnership Programme to bolster the efforts of Government of Nepal to strengthen its infrastructure in health and education.

He also highlighted that this is part of the very robust and strong development partnership between India and Nepal, which has a long history and legacy, and has geographical spread throughout Nepal, touching people's lives and bringing out a tangible progress in the development journey of Nepal.

Minister Poudel, in his remarks, appreciated India's various ongoing developmental projects in Nepal and said that these will continue to strengthen people-to-people connect and the bilateral relations between the two countries.

Since 1994, India has gifted 940 ambulances and 184 school buses to various beneficiary organisations spread across various districts of Nepal, till date.

It is part of Government of India's continued support for the efforts of Nepal to strengthen health and education facilities and also facilitating easy physical access to these services, the embassy said.