'Handing over of houses an opportunity to share sorrows of the needy': PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday handed over homes built with the help of Indian assistance to Tamils in Jaffna, saying that the houses are not just made of brick and stones, but is an opportunity to share the sorrows of the needy.

"This project will provide shelter to 27000 families, which means it is an effort to build the future of children of 27000 families. These houses are not just walls made of brick and stones, but an opportunity to share the sorrow of the needy and help them," said Prime Minister Modi.

The Prime Minister further said that he gets immense satisfaction from participating in an event of sharing sorrow and pain, and of people in need.

"I asked a little girl about the house that was being built here, she was so happy. I asked the girl what she wishes to become when she grows up, she said she wants to be a teacher. I asked a little girl who belongs to a family getting one of these houses, what she wants to be in life, she too wants to be a teacher. The thought that a teacher will live in a house here gives us great joy," the Prime Minister said.

"We might just be building houses here, but when that little girl grows up to be a teacher, she'll be building futures. I get immense satisfaction from participating in an event of sharing sorrow and pain of people in need and wiping off their tears," he added.

Earlier in the day, accompanied by Sri Lanka's President, Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi tree in Anuradhapura.

He also inaugurated the Talaimannar 1650 pier railway station and flagged off the Talaimannar- Medawachchiya train.

Narendra Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister and only the second foreign leader after British Premier David Cameron to visit Jaffna in the Northern province, where he will hand over homes built with the help of Indian assistance to the Tamils.

Some 20,000 such homes were built in Jaffna described by India as a flagship cooperation project in Sri Lanka.

The Prime Minister is in Sri Lanka on the third and final leg of his five-day three-nation tour and is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Sri Lanka in 28 years.