Princess Purna of Morvi has opened a fund at the Bank of Ireland, in Lower Baggot Street, Dublin, for the relief of the stricken rural population in her native region, north-west of Bombay, which has been devastated by the recent earthquake, reports Colman Cassidy.
The princess, a maharaja's daughter who came to live in Ireland following her marriage in 1979 to Mr Garech Browne, a member of the Guinness family, is seeking donations in units of £1 for the relief of the rural districts of Morvi.
"A donation of £1 (70 rupees) will buy an army blanket or a litre of water," she said. The money collected through the Mayur Foundation - called after her late brother who succeeded her father as Maharaja of Morvi but died at the age of 24 - will be spent on earthquake victims in the isolated countryside.
"The Indian government will take care of victims in the towns, but will not be able to attend to the rural population," she said.
A 500-year-old palace and a temple were practically destroyed by the earthquake, but a second palace built by the princess's father in the 1930s survived. "These are matters for my family - her mother is the current maharani - and they are well able to cope. I'm not concerned about that so much as the state of the people in the countryside."
The account number at the Bank of Ireland is 18160125.