NRI
Sukhi Turner former Dunedin mayor (NZ)
to help her ancestral Indian village
Dunedin, October14, 2005
Word of Mouth Media
Former Dunedin mayor Sukhi Turner (NRI, non-resident
Indian) flies out to India today to help her poor
ancestral family village of Duneke in Punjab’s
Moga region.
Turner plans to help provide a sewerage system and
running water for her old family village which she
said was ‘medieval’.
Turner said she has been contacting extended family
members around the world to help pay for health projects
in the village.
``I will also be meeting the Chief Minister of State
for the Punjab in the capital, Chandigarh, to seek
government support.’’
Turner was the first New Zealander to be honoured
by the Indian Government with its highest award for
non-resident Indian citizens or people of Indian origin.
Last year she received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
Award for the Indian Diaspora and is one of only 24
people to have ever received the award internationally.
There are more than 22 million Indians living outside
of their home country.
She is current chair of the Enviroschools Foundation
Trust, is a member of the Plunket Society anniversary
fund-raising committee and is on the Primary Health
Organisation in Dunedin.
Turner returns from India on November 10 but flies
out to Kobe on November 16. She is a member of the
World Health Organisation advisory board which has
its three day meeting in Japan next month.
She said today she is keen to continue her role in
public life and is considering her options in the
coming months.
