SURAT, Nov 4: Voluntary organisations, authorities and even residents of Surat city made frantic attempts throughout Thursday to put together as much foodgrain, pulses, clothes, plastic sheets, medicines and other items as possible to be loaded on to `Sadbhavna Train', which is carrying aid from the State to the cyclone-hit victims of Orissa.The train is expected to arrive at the city railway station tonight, railway sources said, adding that all assistance was being provided to organisations who were contributing towards the cause.While the collectorate opened up a control room at the parcel office of the railway station early on Thursday morning, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) and a number of other voluntary organisations collected essential and relief items to be sent for the cyclone victims.Earlier, both the district collector and the city mayor had appealed to the citizens to contribute wholeheartedly towards the rehabilitation of the cyclone victims.Meanwhile, the Surat Municipal Corporation assigned the staff of all the six zones to go from door to door, requesting people to give whatever they could. And by evening, the civic body had collected about 1000 kgs of wheat, 500 kgs of flour, 400 kgs of dal and about 1000 sarees. The SMC staff continued to collect items until late in the evening.The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry too managed to put together a sizeable amount of relief items for the cyclone-hit state after the members held an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening and chalked out a plan to collect as much relief supplies as possible for the cyclone victims.In the clothes section, a number of sarees, readymade garments and other warm clothes were collected, while pulses and wheat flour was also being collected throughout the day, chamber sources stated. The chamber also contacted the local industries here to collect plastic and tarpaulin sheets for the victims to build makeshift shelters.The city unit of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in a release issued here, said that a collection centre had been opened at its office at Rander Road, where people were requested to bring in supplies. According to RSS worker Kailashbhai, swayamsevaks would stand at all major crossroads of the city and collect money along with goods between 4 pm and 7 pm. ``This will however be sent through out network called Sewa Bharati and not through the Sadbhavna Train,'' he added.
