KADAPA: Strongly believing in the saying: "Service to humanity is service to God", a group of friends in Chitvel mandal of Annamaiah district have joined hands to extend services to those in need.
They formed a WhatsApp group - Chitvel Helpline Society - to identify people who need assistance in Chitvel mandal. The group, which started with mere eight members in 2016, now has 160 members playing a vital role in assisting the people during emergency.
Munnur Bhaskar Reddy of Chitvel launched the group with the help of his friends Shiva Nageswara Rao, Kakarla Koteswara Rao, Gadi Imtiayz Ahamed, Gala Siva Reddy, Valasani Gopal Veeranjaneya Raju, Kandula Narsimha Reddy.
Later, the group kept expanding.Several members of the group are highly educated and settled in different cities across the globe, but have not forgotten their roots. It was the Chitvel Helpline Society that brought them together and they have been rendering service to the fellow people in the town.
Besides extending financial aid to those in need, the group has been sponsoring and funding the higher education of promising youth and bearing medical treatment costs of the poor. Till date, the group has spent Rs 30 lakh on various initiatives.
One day, Imtiyaz Ahamed, secretary of the society, shared a picture of tribal children studying in huts in YS Raja Reddy ST Colony in Chitvel mandal in the WhatsApp group of his batchmates.
Suresh, who lives abroad, was moved by the picture and immediately offered to construct a school building in the name of his parents U Seshacharyulu and Sarojama. Subsequently, the building design was finalised and Suresh sent Rs 3.4 lakh for its construction.
Suresh, who became a member of the group, is a 1993 batch SSC student of Chitvel High School. He had donated Rs 62,000 for exercise kits and dresses for the school children and another Rs 5 lakh for reconstruction of Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Chitvel's Agraharam.
Like Suresh, other group members, too, have donated for various activities of the group. The group had donated Rs 3 lakh for the maintenance works of the Chitvel Government Hospital and installed oxygen concentrators and other equipment.
Last month, P Subbaraju and his son from Mailapalle Rachapalle village in Chitvel mandal died in a road accident at Panyam town of Nandyal district and his other son Harikrishnama Rau was grievously injured.
He was first shifted to Tirupati and later CMC Vellore, where he was on ventilator support. His treatment required Rs 8 lakh. When group members D Giribabu, Raju and Y Ajay Verrma posted the matter in the group, Rs 4.5 lakh was pooled in and given to Raju’s family for treatment within eight hours.
Ahamed said the most noteworthy contribution of the group was to help in the construction of a new government hospital building with all facilities at an estimated cost of Rs 1.65 crore. The group members played a crucial role in making the political leaders during the previous government come forward and complete the project.
"Our group has been active in encouraging students to join government schools. In the last two years, seven blood donation camps have been organised, besides creating awareness about blood donation. On August 4, 2019, a mega blood camp was organised and 176 people donated blood," he said.
The group is also active in promoting environmental conservation programmes and planted saplings on the roadside in Chitvel, he added.
Chitvel Helpline also played a vital role during the COVID pandemic and extended aid to patients and their family members. The group members even took up cremation of COVID victims. The group had extended a helping hand to 21 families of Annamaiah flood victims.