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This is an archive article published on May 4, 2020

Pune: Residents, activists and firms lend a helping hand

Several social and voluntary organisations, activists, industrial units and IT firms are extending a helping hand. Activist Laxmikant Khabiya and his group have reached out to at least 300 backstage artistes.

Pune residents, coronavirus cases, containment zone in Pune, Pune news, Indian express news Pune residents distributed ration kits among 269 students from Tamenglong district of Manipur. (Express photo)

Grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, Puneites are doing their bit to extend a helping hand.

On Maharashtra Day, Pune residents distributed ration kits among 269 students from Tamenglong district of Manipur. “An official from Maharashtra, who is working in Manipur, had informed officials in Pune that students from Manipur were in distress and needed help,” said Vaibhav Wagh of Vandematram Sanghatna.

The Sanghatna, on Facebook, appealed to people to help. “In just over five hours, scores of people came forward to help,” Wagh said. The Sanghatna then distributed the ration kits among the Manipur students living primarily in Sangvi, Salisbury Park, Kondhwa and Koregaon Park area.

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“The help means a lot to our students who had run out of food stock,” said Panmei Dihem, who is among those coordinating the relief work. “This stock will last for over a week. We have also received help from Kondhwa police and another organisation from Pimpri-Chinchwad has promised to reach out to the students,” Dihem said.

Several social and voluntary organisations, activists, industrial units and IT firms are extending a helping hand. Activist Laxmikant Khabiya and his group have reached out to at least 300 backstage artistes. “These artistes are paid daily. Now, with no shows, they have no income. We have provided them with 10-15 days of ration,” said Khabiya, who heads the Sharad Krida Sanstha.

Forty-year-old Sachin Phulfagar, who sets the stage at Balgandharva Rang Mandir, said the lockdown came as a blow to 20-30 of them. “We used to earn Rs 500 per day. But the lockdown has dealt a blow to us. We didn’t know how to feed our families.” However, the Sanstha reached out to them. “We have got ration to last 20 or more days,” he said.

An e-platform directory, WhatWhichWhere, is helping people make purchases in a short time. “We are often forced to visit three-four shops to buy our groceries. To ensure customers get what they want and at which place, we have started the platform,” said Suraj Singh Jhala, its co-founder, adding, “It is a central directory where you can find/register businesses that are located in your neighbourhood and are permitted to deliver or help you out with basic necessities.”

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Hinjewadi-based NICE, a software solutions firm, is taking care of daily wage workers by providing them with groceries. “Our employees have also donated Rs 33 lakh to the PM’s fund,” said NICE India vice president VIjay Gonde.

Pune-based ABIL (Avinash Bhosale Group) has contributed Rs 1 crore to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. It has also provided Rs 50 lakh to the district administration for disaster management. “In addition, ABIL has extended financial help of Rs 28 lakh to Sassoon hospital to procure Plasma Separator Machine.”

Kumar Properties has provided a ventilator to the hospital run by Pune Cantonment Board and medical equipment worth Rs 15 lakh to Sassoon hospital. “We have also provided free grocery of one month to about 2,500 construction labourers and donated Rs 11 lakh to CM’s Relief Fund,” said Manish Jain, Chairman and MD, Kumar Properties.

Force Motors has joined hands with Bharatiya Jain Sanghatna to provide medical help at the doorstep through “Doctor Aplya Daari” project. Over 80,000 people in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad have benefited so far, said Prasan Firodia, MD, Force Motors.

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


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