Mumbai college students rush to help flood-hit Maharashtra, keep hope afloat

Last week, students from 23 colleges across the city participated in a special drive to collect food, clothing and medicines. The estimated worth of the collected items is ₹25 lakh.

Even as lakhs of people in Kolhapur and Sangli try to recover from a devastating flood, city colleges did their bit to help them.

Flooded area of Sangli (Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

Last week, students from 23 colleges across the city participated in a special drive to collect food, clothing and medicines. The estimated worth of the collected items is ₹25 lakh. The material was transported to the flood-affected regions and is being distributed by a team of teachers and students.

The initiative was led by the Association of Non-Governmental Colleges (ANGC), which appealed to city colleges to collect household items. The trucks laden with these items were flagged off from Wilson College by the University of Mumbai (MU) vice-chancellor Suhas Pednekar.

“This [the drive] was spontaneously done by Mithibai College students,” Rajpal Hande, principal of the college.

Students from Thakur College, Kandivli, raised ₹24,000, which was used to purchase notebooks. They also collected medicines for flood-affected people. “It’s important for students to get out of their comfort zone and become socially aware. College is an apt platform for such activities,” said Chaitali Chakraborty, college principal.

TA Shiware, chairman of ANGC, said the material was being distributed with the help of local authorities, including police force.

“The relief work is being done in the villages marked by the district collector of Kolhapur. The relief team has issued coupons to ensure the material reaches those who actually need them,” he said.

Murlidhar Kurhade, principal, DTSS College, Malad, said, “The programme was well-coordinated. We got good response because of a proper follow-up.”