The Chinese government has extended financial help of Rs.30 lakh to tackle acute drought in Solapur, the birthplace of Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis who earned the admiration of the Chinese for treating soldiers injured during the Second Sino-Japan war.
"China's government, through its Consul General Zheng Xiyuan, has give Rs.30 lakh to the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation to tackle the severe water crises in Solapur," Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said here on Wednesday.
"The Chinese gesture symbolised the immense love and affection that country has for Dr Kotnis," he added.
The money will be used for installing manual water pumps and digging 50 tube wells in the water-starved city.
The Chinese consulate in Mumbai had earlier passed on information on the water crisis in Solapur to its government.
Dr. Kotnis, 28, was part of a five-member Indian medical mission team sent by the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to China in September 1938 to help injured soldiers.
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He spent nearly five years in China, mostly working on the battlefronts and at one point treated over 800 soldiers, earning the admiration of the Chinese.
Dr. Kotnis died of epilepsy on December 9, 1942, and has since been revered as a symbol of China-India friendship.
--IANS
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