India visit a homecoming: Jimmy Carter

Lonavala (Maharashtra), Oct 29 (IANS) Former US president Jimmy Carter, who arrived here Sunday, said his visit to India was 'almost a homecoming'.

'India has played a major role in the lives of the members of the Carter family,' he said while dedicating 100 houses built at this quaint hill resort, some 85 km southeast of Mumbai, to the under-privileged in the region.

'My mother Lillian worked very closely with the villagers of Vaikholi not far from here 36 years ago. It is almost a homecoming for me to be here at Lonavala today,' Carter said.

The houses are being built on a seven-acre land on the outskirts of Lonavala. Over the next five days, some 4,000 volunteers from around the globe - belonging to the Habitat for Humanity's Jimmy Carter Work Project 2006 (JCWP)- will add final touches to the modern dwellings with basic amenities.

'Later when I visited India as president, the then Indian prime minister Morarji Desai honoured me by naming a village Carterpuri after me. My wife Rosalynn always wanted to launch the JCWP in India. I am happy from the core of my heart that the project has taken shape today,' the Nobel laureate said.

'Over the next five days, Rosalynn and me will work shoulder to shoulder with some 4,000 JCWP volunteers to give the final shape to the dream of some 100 families here. Yes, it is a homecoming for the Carter family,' he said.

The former president added that the JCWP was grateful to the Indian chapter for having invited them for the 23rd annual programme.

'Earlier this year we finished building over a 1,000 houses in South Korea's demilitarised zone on its border with North Korea. And a month later President Bush (George Bush) said he would be visiting the most dangerous place in the world - the demilitarised zone in North Korea. Me and Rosalynn had a nice laugh as we had spent a few weeks in the area,' he said.

Each house in the building project at Patan village, on the outskirts of this hill resort, has an international sponsorship cost of $2,840 per house.

The houses will comprise duplex, semi-detached or twin one-storey houses, with living room-cum-bedroom, kitchen, toilet, bathroom and a veranda, said Janhavi Borawake, a project official.