The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Help underprivileged: Barnala

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 29, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Help underprivileged: Barnala

Staff Reporter

Governor commends NGOs, but says more needs to be done

CHENNAI: Calling for empathy with the underprivileged, Governor Surjit Singh Barnala said service organisations and non-government organisations should take up responsibility and build a network with the Government and district administration.

"So many NGOs came from across the country to serve here (after the December 26 tsunami). We did not seek help from foreign countries. It is a matter of pride that we sent help to other affected countries." Yet, the scale of destruction was such that even the selfless work of voluntary organisations had touched only the fringe of the problem. Mr. Barnala, who distributed uniforms to students from 160 institutions in the State, lauded the efforts of NGOs and service organisations and felicitated the Rajasthan Cosmo Club Foundation, which distributed three sets of uniform to each of the 8,300 children. They include children from tsunami-affected areas.

Pat for Rajasthani community

He said the Rajasthani community, known for heroism, had moved to other States and had done well. The neglected, weak and vulnerable were part of our society and they need help to become socially and economically strong, he said. Inequity and discrimination on the basis of religion would make a person turn to other religions.

Recalling an incident when he was Education Minister in Punjab, he said poor children in a school were given uniforms and books and their fees were waived but the management had a pact with the parents that the children would never know the truth.

The 11-year-old club has so far collected over eight lakh garments and distributed to the poor and needy. Narendra Singhal, a philanthropist from Hissar in Haryana, has donated Rs. 5 lakhs to the Badal Chand Sugan Kanwar Chordia uniform scheme. The cloth bank has distributed uniforms to 2,000 students in 25 schools in the tsunami-affected districts.

The cloth bank can be contacted at: 28213149.

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