Thiruvananthapuram: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will be exploring the options of United Nations (UN) assistance for the flood relief activities in the state.
Mr. Tharoor, who is also a former under secretary general with the UN, reached Geneva on Monday and is likely to hold talks with top officials of various agencies under the UN, including the United Nations Office at Geneva and officials of WHO.
According to sources close to Mr Tharoor, since he had a long stint with UN earlier he had got personal rapport with many top officials of UN agencies like the UNOG head Michael Moller. Though the state could not seek UN aid directly, Mr Tharoor would be giving inputs to the state government on the scope of aids from UN and WHO. Based on that the state could propose to the Centre to seek UN and WHO assistance and the Centre could take a call on the matter. Mr Tharoor had held talks with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vija-yan and additional chief secretary (revenue) P.H. Kurian before going to Geneva.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had earlier expressed concerns over the floods in the state. The secretary general's spokes persons also said the UN officials in India were monitoring the developments.
Mr. Tharoor, who is on bail in connection with his wife Sunanda Pushkar's death, had obtained permission from a Delhi court to proceed to Geneva. He will be also visiting the family of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who died recently.
