Thursday, June 8 2006 10:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: President A P J Abdul Kalam yesterday (June 8, 2006) suggested replicating his pet project PURA (Providing Urban Facilities in Rural Areas) in the hilly terrains of Nepal to help the Himalayan country overcome the problem of road connectivity to inaccesible areas.

Kalam made the suggestion when visiting Nepalese Prime Minister G P Koirala called on him here.

Kalam has been passionately advocating PURA programme for the development of rural areas in the country.

During a 30-minute meeting the two leaders had at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Kalam explained that Hill PURA was one of the components of his programme and India can help Nepal in making this possible, President's press secretary S M Khan said.

The two leaders discussed infrastructure problems being faced by Nepal, particularly road connectivity. Koirala said certain areas in Nepal were totally inaccessible and that one has to walk for miles to reach those places.

The President said Nepal can improve health care facilities in rural areas through tele-medicine by connecting small centres to big hospitals in Kathmandu. He said India can also help in the field of tele-medicine.

Suggesting that Nepal can use herbal products in a big way, he said these can be converted into drugs which can give good business to the country.

Kalam congratulated Koirala for the political process in Nepal and his taking over as Prime Minister, Khan said.