NELLORE: Fifteen youngsters, all in their late teens and early 20s, have indulged themselves in social service by taking it upon themselves to address some of the issues in their village. The youths, who are working under the banner ‘Mana Vooru-Mana Bhadyatha’ (our village-our responsibility), hail from Peddannaluru in Kaligiri mandal of Nellore district, and have been working together for the noble cause since the lockdown last year.
Peddannaluru, which falls in Velapadu panchayat, is home to 475 people, a majority of whom rely on agriculture and related activities to earn a living. Despite being Intermediate, degree and B Tech students, these young men find time from their regular schedule to discuss the local issues in meetings, and find ways to resolve them.
They have won appreciation from the locals as they choose to spend their own money to supply study material to students and organise blood donation camps, and consciously rejected any form of donation.
Chittiboina Dattatreya, one of the members who came up with the idea of helping the locals, said others in the group were also motivated towards the cause and instantly agreed when he shared his plans with them. “Our aim is to resolve the issues surrounding us. We joined hands to serve our community with whatever income/savings we have. We’ve supplied study materials to students and organised blood donation camps in the village.”
The group has distributed `25,000 to two families which lost their houses in fire accidents. After seeing the success of their initiative, the students are planning to extend their services to Kaligir mandal as well. “We had organised a disinfectant drive last year. The same is reorganised this year as the threat of second wave looms. We levelled the primary school grounds so that children can play their. Our parents have been very supportive in our endeavours, and friends also step in to guide us whenever we hit a roadblock,” said Sk Badullah, another member. The group organises various programmes to supply study materials to government school students. With their growing popularity, the residents also take up such issues to them even as Dattatreya and Badullah motivate more youths to volunteer.