Both the Central and the State government have been quick to announce relief measures for the bereaved family of Prof.G.V.Loganathan, who was killed in a shootout on the Virginia Tech university campus in the US two days back.
The regional passport office here today issued passports to the kin of Professor G.V. Loganathan. “We’ve issued passports within an hour to four members of the family. We even gave them an affidavit from the passport office itself as they didn’t have one with them,” says regional passport officer Chennai, Sumathi Ravichandran. Palanivelu, one of the brothers of Loganathan, was informed last night to bring the four to the passport office today and the Tamil Nadu government would take care of all expenses, including air tickets, for nine of Loganathan’s relatives, who were scheduled to leave for the US in the early hours of Thursday, she added.
The US Embassy in Chennai was asked by the External Affairs Ministry to put the visa procedure on fast-track. “The tragedy has happened in the US, but it’s an international tragedy as there are 76,000 Indian students there. It affects us all,” says Consul for Public Affairs, American Consulate General (Chennai), Frederick J Kaplan.
Loganathan’s family are clearly overwhelmed by the spontaneous support they’ve received. “We are very grateful to the Indian Government and the media for taking up our cause,” says Loganathan’s brother Senguttuvelavan.
