After New Delhi made it clear to the international community that it would not accept direct aid from other countries to combat the Tsunami crisis, Indian Home Ministry is now almost sure of disallowing foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to assist in the relief work, The Pioneer reported Wednesday.

Indian Home Secretary Dhinder Singh Tuesday did indicate that, in line with the government's self-reliance theory, only domestic NGOs should be allowed to assist the central government and administrations of the tsunami-hit southern states, said the English-language paper.

Singh was quoted as saying that the Home Ministry was yet to take an official position on the requests being made by the foreign NGOs to join the domestic NGOs in the relief efforts.

"Our priority right now is not the foreign NGOs. We have competent government officials taking care of the relief and rehabilitation efforts and Indian NGOs are also working even in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands," Mr Singh said, referring to the worst tsunami-hit islands in the Bay of Bengal.

Particularly with regard to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Indian central government is keen on allowing only local NGOs to reach victims there, said the paper.

"The Island chain has a delicate ecology and there are many issues including security aspects of the region that will have to be considered prior to granting permission to foreign NGOs there. Besides, Indian NGOs are already there," Singh said.

While global NGOs have began routing their assistance through Indian NGOs in the tsunami-hit South Indian states, the Indian central government is closed to the idea of having too many people on the archipelago, where the impact of the disaster has been maximum.

Senior officials in the Home Ministry and its National Disaster Management Cell which is coordinating the assessment and relief efforts in the tsunami-ravaged areas earlier held the opinion that with stringent guidelines for the island chain, foreign NGOs could be allowed to operate there.

The officials said that, following requests from foreign NGOs essentially based in the European Union for permission to assist the Indian central government in relief and rehabilitation work, a set of norms was to be formulated. But as of now, the idea has been dropped, the paper said.

At least 9,571 people were confirmed dead and 5,801 missing in India in the Dec. 26 massive earthquake measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale and the resultant killer tidal waves in the Indian Ocean, according to a status report issued Tuesday by the Indian Home Ministry. 
 
(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2005)