Indian Community Benevolent Forum ( ICBF), an apex body under Indian embassy, aims to raise a minimum of Rs100mn to support the flood affected areas in Kerala and Karnataka, it was announced Monday.
A core committee of community leaders has been formed to chart out the course of action and raise funds by September 30 to be sent to the Distress Relief Fund of the chief ministers of both the states.
At a press conference, Davis Edakalathur, president, ICBF as well as the core committee, appealed to the community members to contribute generously to the cause.
“The severe floods have affected almost all the districts of Kerala and many people have lost lives while thousands have lost their belongings. Therefore ICBF has taken the initiative of raising a minimum amount of Rs100mn. Hopefully we will be able to collect more.”
ICBF vice president Baburaj said the funds are being raised with the permission of Indian embassy which has taken the necessary steps to get permission for the same from the Qatar government. He also stated that it was the first phase of the campaign and other aspects will be looked after at a later stage.
C V Rappai, a member of the core committee, said that efforts are on to co-ordinate the activities for raising the money. “There are subcommittees for various activities, including co-ordinating medical aid and other logistics. Our main aim is to raise as much money as possible through Indian schools, associations and business establishments,” he noted. Hassan Chogule, another member, stated he would raise about Rs10mn through the schools.
“We are in the process of approaching all the Indian business houses, especially those from Kerala. We are working out a strategy to get the maximum amount of money from the business people and I am confident that we will be able to meet the target,” said Abdulla Theruvath, president of Kerala Business Forum and committee member.
According to Girish Kumar, another member, the process of providing medical aid as well as cleaning and disinfectant materials is progressing.
"Our present focus is in providing the help in rehabilitation of the thousands of people living in government run relief shelters. We also have some proposals for making Kerala less dependent on hydroelectricity which we will submit at a later stage,” he explained.
Juttas Paul, another member of the committee, also exhorted the community members to contribute generously to the cause. Other members of the core committee are Dr Mohan Thomas, K M Varghese, Nishad Azeri, Ushus Andrews, Ravi Shetty, Dr Joyal and Mahesh Gowda.
There is an ICBF help desk operating at ICC from 8am to 12noon and 4pm to 8pm and people can contact Iqbal on 55550859 or Sanjeev on 55873005 to hand over their contributions. They can also reach out to the office bearers of ICBF at the help desk working at the Indian embassy from 6pm to 8pm.
Other contact numbers of key officials are as follows: Davis Edakalathur - 55512810, PN Baburajan - 55532367 and Mahesh Gowda - 55342708.
