CUTTACK: Charity begins at home, prove Safdar Hashim of Cuttack and his family spread across the State. With over 102 members including all blood relatives, the Hashims have come up with a unique way to help people. All of them are members of Jazba Hashim Abdullah Trust that was founded by 67-year-old Safdar in 2018 and contribute a part of their income every month towards helping the people in need. Residing in different parts of the State, they also identify people in distress and mitigate their plight irrespective of their caste or religion.
Since the last fortnight, they have been distributing straw to dairy farmers of Nischintakoili to feed their cattle. Owing to frequent unseasonal rains in Cuttack last year, several acres of land on which paddy was grown were water-logged and crops could not be retrieved. Many farmers have also resorted to cutting the crops with machines which don’t produce paddy straw and has led to an acute shortage of the animal feed as well as thatching raw material.
“We are ready to pay Rs 400 for each pana (80 bundles) but even then, straw is not available here,” said Ramesh Behera, a dairy farmer. Realising their problem, the trust members procured straw from neighbouring districts that did not face rains and are providing them to the dairy farmers free of cost since the last fortnight. Around 40 such farmers including Ramesh are being provided the commodity free of cost. “We will continue to provide them straw till it is available in the local market at reasonable rates,” said Safdar.
With the schools reopening, the trust members have also taken up the task of providing school bags, stationery and clothes to poor students who are upbeat about returning to classrooms. Around 2,500 school bags have so far been provided to the needy students. During the tenure of Biren Mitra as the chief minister of Odisha, Safdar’s father Yusuf was the Cuttack MLA. One among 10 siblings, Safdar’s family tree now extends to 102 members.
“All my family members are affluent with almost all of them being successful businessmen, doctors or engineers. All the 102 members are a part of the trust and contribute 2.5 per cent of their income for philanthropic works,” said Safdar, adding that if necessary all of them are also ready to contribute more.
Apart from the members, the trust has 3,000 volunteers across the State to identify and reach out to people in distress. In cash and kind, the annual transaction of the trust towards different philanthropic work is about Rs 25 lakh, said Safdar.
While it has been organising free medical camps, distributing clothes and food to the needy since its inception, the trust members provided food to migrant labourers stranded in different parts of the State, essentials and financial assistance to newspaper hawkers and servitors of different temples in the Twin City during both the waves of the Covid-19 pandemic.
HELPING HAND
40 dairy farmers of Nischintakoili being provided straw free of cost for feeding cattle
2,500 poor students given school bags, stationery, clothes
Essentials, money to temple servitors during Covid lockdowns
Food to migrant families in Twin City
