HYDERABAD:
Finance
and civil supplies minister Eatala Rajender on Wednesday flagged off a lorry carrying 500 metric tonnes of
rice
to flood-ravaged Kerala even as help from various other quarters poured in. Civil supplies commissioner Akun Sabharwal, civil supplies corporation chairman P Sudershan Reddy and rice millers association president Gampa Nagendar were among those present when 18 lorries were flagged off from Necklace Road. Another six lorry loads of boiled rice are headed to Kerala.
Former minister Danam Nagendar has also sent Rs 15 lakh worth materials, aid and Rs 5 lakh to Kerala by air.
TNGOs’ union, Hyderabad district, sent relief material worth Rs 10 lakh to the flood-hit state. Union vice-president Vikram said they received an overwhelming response for donation. “We planned for Rs 5 lakh worth material, but we got donations up to Rs 10 lakh,” he said.
Home minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy also flagged off donation material at the secretariat. The collected material, including 200 bags of rice, clothes and other material, are being transported to Kerala in 16 lorries. In South Africa, the TRS NRI wing is organising a ‘dine for a cause’ event and the proceeds will go for the flood relief. Nagaraju Gurrala of TRS NRI-South Africa told TOI that Indian food would be served at a restaurant to raise funds. The event is also being publicised through local radio.
KIMS hospitals would be contributing one day’s earnings (which would amount to well over Rs 10,00,000) towards flood aid. As a a member of The Association of Surgeons of India, the largest surgical organisation in Asia Pacific region, I have contributed Rs 1,00,000 to the association’s flood relief fund,” said Dr Raghu Ram, director, KIMS-USHALAKSHMI Centre for Breast Diseases. Separately,
Star India
increased its donation to Rs 5 crore for relief efforts in Kerala. Star India had previously announced a Rs 2 crore donation, however, seeing the scale of the disaster, Star India and its employees stepped up to increase the donation along with its parent company 21st Century Fox.
Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyde...
Read MoreSushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.
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