Afghan Students in India protesting to condemn Taliban attack and violence in Afghanistan. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
With Afghanistan in turmoil after the Taliban takeover of Kabul, students and citizens from the country are desperately seeking help. A helpline set up by Pune-based Sarhad, an NGO, has been flooded with calls from students in Afghanistan as well as those staying in Pune and other parts of Maharashtra. Moved by the cries of help, Sarhad said it was drawing up a plan to adopt at least 1,000 students from Afghanistan.
“After we set up the helpline a few days ago, we have been getting frequent calls from students, working professionals and citizens from Afghanistan as well as those living in Pune and other cities of the state,” said Sanjay Nahar, founder-president of Sarhad.
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Nahar said students who had come to India on scholarships from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations are not facing financial issues. “But those who paid from their own pockets to study here have run out of money to even pay their college fees. Some students and working professionals, who went back during the pandemic, now want to return but are facing visa issues. Many students want to return to complete their degree courses in Pune. Some students, who are here, have been able to contact their families back home while others have not been able to establish any contact with their families…,” he said.
Nahar alleged that the Afghanistan Consulate in Mumbai was doing little to help its citizens in India. “The Consulate is confused as to whose orders they should take. The students and citizens who called up the Consulate are not getting any response from them,” he said.
He said the NGO members will meet Pune University Vice-Chancellor Nitin Karmalkar to request him to either waive the fees of Afghan students or find some solution to their financial problems.
In association with the Sikh community in Pune, Sarhad was readying a plan to adopt at least 1,000 Afghan students, said Nahar. “Sarhad has done it earlier by adopting Kashmiri student… We have already set up the Guru Teg Bahadur Committee. The Sikh community has come forward to help in this task. Others will also be joining us… we hope our government will allow us to do so. We will be meeting government officials soon with our proposal to adopt 1,000 Afghan students,” he said.
In a statement extending help to Afghan students, the NGO had stated earlier, “Sarhad will endeavour to make necessary arrangements to continue their education unhampered and contact their relatives with the help of central government. Help from eminent psychologists also will be taken wherever necessary. Sarhad will also try to provide jobs to needy Afghani students. Sarhad has been actively helping Afghan students in educational matters since 2012… Sarhad appeals to Afghan students and citizens presently living in Maharashtra to call or WhatsApp on helpline no. 8007066900, if they are in need of any kind.”
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
