NEW DELHI: A prominent gurdwara and a food research lab work overtime separately to feed the hungry and displaced in Jammu and Kashmir; a university sends a medical team to treat those flood-hit patients; the Prime Minister’s 95-year-old mother Hiraba gives `5,000 to her son on his birthday to add it to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) that would help the flood victims, a senior citizen stands in a serpentine queue at a bank to contribute to the PMNRF from his pension money; MLAs cutting across party lines sacrifice their salaries for their affected fellow countrymen. The list of humanitarian efforts to heal the wounds of Kashmiris, caused by the recent catastrophic floods, is endless. An entire India is united in grief. Individuals, corporate, social organisations, governments, government agencies, hospitals, political parties, NGOs and even educational institutions are pouring in help. People across India have come forward with whatever they can contribute for the flood-hit populace in a never-before scale.
Chennai’s Dr Talat Salim landed in Kashmir last week with medicines worth over Rs 20 lakh and 300 cartons of clothing and other necessities, all contributed by the city’s populace. When Dr Salim, a Kashmiri native living in Chennai, decided to put together what relief she could, little did she know that the initiative would blossom into such a huge programme.
“When I left Chennai on Thursday morning, there were over 800 cartons of baby clothes and other donations. We could only ship 300 cartons of material in the first leg. We shipped it through Air India with the help of the Lions Club 30 group and they have also promised to help ship the other 500 cartons,” said Dr Salim. This aid mission for Kashmir, however, is just one of the many across the country.
Charity begins at home. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to contribute generously to PMNRF prompted all officers and staff of his office to voluntarily contribute their one day’s salary to the fund. Punjab’s IAS officers also followed suit and donated one day’s salary for J&K relief fund. India Inc which is always ahead to help during calamities has come forward at a grand scale this time too. Mahindra & Mahindra Group and Samsung Electronics, donated Rs 2 crore and Rs 3 crore respectively to the PMNRF. Godrej Group chairman Adi Godrej said: “Employees of all our group companies will be offering a day's salary, which will then be matched by the respective company.”
Separately, Godrej Foundation is also offering its help to the flood victims through the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The CII has tied up with the army’s Chandigarh-headquarters Western Command to dispatch relief material to the valley. A recent consignment consisted of massive relief materials. CII members in Tamil Nadu and Chennai have sent considerable relief funds to CII’s national headquarters too, said sources. TVS Motor Company chairman Venu Srinivasan said the TVS Group along with Sri Ramachandra Medical University has put together a relief mission of over 40 doctors and `1.5 crore of funds for J&K’s flood victims. “We have put together a team of doctors because we know the greatest problem there would be medical help,” he said.
Airlines like Jet Airways, GoAir, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India have also been taking part in the ongoing relief and rescue operations. Apart from carrying essential supplies to Srinagar, the airlines’ role in evacuation and medical aid to survivors is being widely lauded.
Wireless telephony service providers like BSNL, Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communications offered free calling facilities for a limited period. DLF Foundation ramped up its efforts to provide relief material, medical staff and medicines. A medical team along with DLF staffers is already working in the state and the foundation is also holding medical camps.
“We will continue to support the victims through the difficult rebuilding period ahead. The people of the state will continue to have a friend and partner in DLF Foundation,” said Lt Gen Rajender Singh, the CEO of DLF Foundation. More than 12 tonnes of food and relief material provided by DLF was airlifted to the flood-affected areas of the valley by a special IAF aircraft from Delhi recently.
PSUs under the Ministry of Steel and Mines donated `15 crore to PMNRF. Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd in Odisha has been mobilising assistance through the nine schools it operates in the mining belts of the state. “We have asked the schools to generate contributions from the students, howsoever small it may be,” said Dicken Mehra, Senior Manager (PR), MCL. Canara Bank sanctioned `5 crore towards the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, J&K.
Prominent NRI businessman from Kerala and MD of Lulu Group M A Yousuf Ali offered `1 crore to PMNRF. Likewise, Pune Metal Finishers Association provided 50,000 chlorine tablets, packets of milk powder and biscuits.
The floods brought to the fore the humane qualities of politicians too. Opposition AIADMK MLAs in Puducherry pledged their one month’s salary for the cause besides all the Delhi BJP MLAs and Municipal Councillors who would donate their one month’s salary and allowances to PMNRF.
Kerala home minister Ramesh Chennithala contributed a month’s salary to the disaster relief fund. His office staff will also contribute one day’s salary. The Kerala government would provide Rs 2 crore for flood relief. The state’s cabinet also decided to set up a special disaster relief fund for relief activities. In Telangana, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao sent Rs 10 crore as financial aid apart from dispatching 50 water treatment machines each costing Rs 5 lakh. His Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu announced Rs 5 crore relief and sent 300 tonnes of packaged and ready-to-eat food to J&K.
Political parties have been in the forefront of rescue and relief operations in J&K. The Congress recently sent relief material, including boats, medicines and tents, besides 100 volunteers to J&K even as state governments ruled by it donated Rs 30 crore. In Delhi, BJP’s youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) flagged off relief material to J&K which included ration, clothes, medicines, blankets collected by the activists on the eve of PM Modi’s birthday. BJYM chief and MP Anurag Thakur said teams of doctors and volunteers were being sent to J&K. The party’s Kerala unit’s art and culture wing launched a unique initiative as part of its ‘Unarvu 2014’ programme organised in connection with Modi’s birthday to collect funds for the flood victims by involving film and television artistes. Uttar Pradesh government made its presence felt with a financial assistance of Rs 20 crore for the flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir.
Langar (community kitchen) of the Golden Temple in Amritsar is putting in all efforts to cook as much food as possible for the flood survivors. Langar and other daily-use items are being sent from Amritsar to Srinagar by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on IAF aircraft. SGPC secretary Manjit Singh told The Sunday Standard: “We are sending langar for 50,000 people. Initially, it was for 25,000 people. Besides this, 1,300 packets of dry ration are being sent so that they can also cook their meals if they want to.”
Kashmiri separatists may keep alive their agenda of separation forever. The floods have shown that the whole of India thinks the Kashmiris their own and hence inseparable.