Bengaluru raises funds for Assam flood relief

The focus this year is to transfer funds to NGOs and volunteers in the affected state rather than dispatch trucks with relief supplies

Distribution of relief supplies in Barpeta district of Assam, funds for which were sent by a not-profit in Bengaluru

People in Bengaluru have started fundraisers for the flood-hit communities in Assam.

The executive committee of Assam Society of Bangalore has raised around Rs 1.2 lakh and plans to collect more.

“We will transfer the amount to Sahari, an NGO working in Assam. It comprises many Assamese who were earlier living in Bengaluru. They will buy and distribute relief material to the affected areas as per the requirement,” informs advisor, Dhiraj Talukdar.

Since Assam suffers flooding every year, the Society pools money to rehabilitate three or four families by buying them mud houses, pigs and goats. “But the floods are massive this year, so our focus is to provide relief supplies immediately than to rehabilitate people,” says the SAP consultant, whose parents were stranded in the flood-hit Baksa district for three days.

Members of Assam Association Bangalore have raised about Rs 2 lakh, along with the help of their colleagues. They plan to wire the money to volunteers on the ground in Assam, who are known to them.

“Earlier, we would receive a lot of relief supplies in kind, such as blankets and clothes, and we would dispatch them in trucks with our members. This time, it has been fewer. So we are concentrating on funds transfer,” shares Pranab Jyoti Borah, former general secretary of the Association. He is an interior designer-entrepreneur and a native of Tezpur in Assam.

Fundraising efforts for the Assam flood have been lukewarm in the city so far, Dhiraj and Pranab point out. Instagram appeals are far and few between, and calls from volunteering groups have been hardly any.

Being Social-Ek Nayi Shuruwaat could be an exception. A non-profit driven by volunteers, it claims it has transferred Rs 32,000 to Banchit Choudhury Sankardev Sishu Niketan, which is working in the Barpeta, Bajali and Nalbari districts of Assam.

These funds are being used to arrange meals, ration kits, hygiene kits for women, and items like mosquito nets, bedsheets and footwear, informs clinical researcher Praveen Shukla, who has founded the non-profit.

Artistes like Abhineet Mishra have also stepped up. The standup comedian from Mumbai held two gigs in Bengaluru on Saturday to donate the proceeds from ticket sales towards flood relief and “amplify” his online crowdfunding campaign for the same.

“I was visiting my family in Bengaluru and I felt I could use my art to bring visibility to the grim situation in the northeast, which remains invisible to the rest of India. I am from Meghalaya, so I know that,” Abhineet shares.

His campaign has collected over Rs 5.3 lakh. He says he wants to raise the current target of Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. “I will distribute these funds among four-five NGOs in Assam,” he informs.

To donate or enquire

Assam Society of Bangalore at [e-mail]

Assam Association Bangalore at [e-mail]

Being Social-Ek Nayi Shuruwaat at [e-mail]

Abhineet Mishra at abhineetmishraa on Instagram