Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Offers of help flood in

K. Ramachandran

Devandiran promised financial assistance Offers of financial support overwhelm Devandiran

R.S. Devandiran. — Photo: K. Pichumani

CHENNAI: The teenager from Avadi, R.S. Devandiran, who was looking for financial help for pursuing medical education, has been overwhelmed with offers of help in the form of donations and loans.

Devandiran, who got a score of 297.75 and secured an MBBS seat under the Backward Classes category at Stanley Medical College, had stated that his family would be unable to pay the annual fee of Rs.6,000 and other deposits, besides the cost of books and educational expenses in the next five years.

Following the publication of his appeal in The Hindu , he received nearly 30 telephone calls promising him financial assistance. Even from early morning, Devandiran said, half a dozen officials from nationalised banks called at his home in Avadi, all of them offering loans.

Devandiran said Canara Bank had offered him `in principle' a loan of Rs.60,000. "By then I had two or three visitors who came home with cash and it swelled to Rs.19,000. Besides, an official from the Tiruvallur district Collectorate also came home for enquiries and asked me to come to the Collectorate. I plan to go there tomorrow, as I was only receiving telephone calls and visitors all day.

"These included individuals such as Ms. Uma of Indira Nagar, S. Vijay Balaji (who said he came on behalf of actor Vijaykant), a person from Sri Sarada Devi Seva Sangh, K.K.Nagar, besides doctors from Stanley and bank officials. Canara Bank has offered Rs.60,000 and they told me that I could draw the money anytime I ran out of sponsors," noted the youngsters who just turned 18.

This newspaper also received scores of telephone enquiries offering funds or seeking his address, besides a cheque for Rs.6,000 from S.A.P. Varadan, in the name of The Hindu to be passed on to the student, and a letter from the Stanley Alumni Association offering to sponsor the entire course fee; the Dean and the Faculty of the College would sponsor the books for his course.

Devandiran said any cheques of donations could be sent in the name of his mother `S. Sarala'.

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