Andhra & Karnataka Flood Relief Fund Raising Bicycle Ride from Pune to Hyderabad

[Bani]

Hi Friends,

We all know about the devastating flood in Andhra Pradesh and
Karnataka, which caused devastation, damage to life, and left many
homeless. Mamata, a social group from Hyderabad, is working a NGO with
Seva Bharathi who are really doing good ground level work. We need to
fund NGOs like them which are working in a transparent way to bring
back the life to normalcy in the flood affected zones.

I am cycling from Pune to Hyderabad from 17th Oct to 20th Oct to
spread awareness on benefits of eco-friendly modes of transport, like
cycling which helps in checking the growth of green house gases and
request you to donate for flood relief. The funds raised will be used
in the rehabilitation activities undertaken by Seva Bharathi and
Mamata.

Bank Account Details for Donation –
Name – Bhabani Sankar Mishra
Bank – ICICI
Branch – Aundh, Pune
Account Number – 007301036881

A Report from Mamata’s visit to the flood affected zone –
On 11th October 6 member Mamata team went to visit the flood affected
Rajoli village in Mehbubnagar.



It was almost 230kms from Hyderabad off the NH-7. We could see the
large scale devastation done by the floods in that village.

As the villagers were not ready to evacuate the place the police
quickly swung into action and evacuated the entire village by Friday
afternoon. This has saved almost 10000+ people who are living in that
village.

Most of the houses were grounded or either filled with mud and water.
The roads were being cleared by the time we reached and was little
conducive for us to walk around the village.

Along with volunteers from NGO, Sewa Bharati with which we tied up to
distribute relief material, we went around the village spoke to the
villagers who have just returned back to check their belongings. After
checking whether they hail from that village, a card was issued which
could be shown to take the relief material later in the day. We also
visited the Sunkeswara dam which gave up to the pressure of flood
water and created the havoc.



Later in the day the volunteers have organized things very well to
distribute the relief material.

Firstly they made everyone sit in a line and then started allowing 5
people at a time to take the relief material.

There were lot of other NGO’s visiting the place to distribute the
relief material, they were literally pushed around by the villagers
and only the strong person got the relief material.



What we have done:

1. Collected 80 bags of old clothes and given to Goonj.

2. Set up stalls where people can buy and donate blankets and
sarees. Donated 1000 blankets, 500 sarees which Sewa bharti would
distribute.

3. 100kgs of rice was donated by Madhuram(caterer) and Akshaya
Patra has donated 100kgs rice, 200kgs pickle.

4. Collected close to 2.5 lakhs till today for flood relief.



What we can do further:

1. Try adopting a village, where we can provide basic things
like gas stove, tin sheets to cover the roofs, utensils, new clothes
(probably subsidized)

2. Restoring the govt. school in that area. We can look at
donating black boards, benches, school kits(notes book, stationery)



There is a lot that needs to be done. Hope we will at least be able to
bring back one village to normal.



Friends, I appeal to you to donate whole heartedly for the flood
relief activities.

And please forward this message to your friends too.

Regards,
Bani