A few teachers and many students who studied in Vikaasa between 1981 and 1990 batches contributed ₹28.5 lakh in the form of dry ration, pulse oximeters and a cheque to the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund here on Wednesday.
Finance Minister P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan, who is an alumnus of Vikaasa (1983 batch) recently addressed batchmates virtually and a few teachers also participated. During the interaction, Vijay C Bose, an alumni (1984 batch) and now an orthopaedic surgeon practising in Chennai, said their batch would contribute towards the CM Relief Fund.
Within about a week, other batchmates too joined and raised ₹28.5 lakh, which included contributions from alumni residing overseas. Some of the alumni like Sharmila Devadoss, Arun Amarnath, T Palanichamy, Sudakar Thiagarajan, Arun Vijaaay Malli and Sudhir, who coordinated the work, said former principal of the school, M.S. Iyengar, too donated for the cause.
In the meantime, Mr. Thiagarajan suggested that part of the money be used to give dry ration to people, especially those in BPL category, as many remained indoors without jobs due to the pandemic. So, the batchmates joined hands and procured provisions such as rice, dhal and tea packets and delivered them at 3,500 dwellings over the last three days adhering to COVID-19 protocols in Madurai city.
Also, pulse oximeters to the tune of ₹3 lakh were delivered to Government Rajaji Hospital and Corporation of Madurai.
Commercial Taxes and Registration Minister P. Moorthy, Collector Aneesh Shekhar and Corporation Commissioner S. Visagan were present on the occasion.
The Finance Minister thanked his schoolmates for their participation in the relief work.
