Kerala floods: CMDRF receives Rs 388 crore donation

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The chief minister’s distress relief fund (CMDRF) received Rs 388 crore till Wednesday evening. The CMDRF is receiving tremendous response and people from all walks of life are coming forward to donate money.
People from 181 countries have contributed money through online gateway donations.cmdrf.kerala.gov.in and about three lakh people have utilized this facility. From online payments alone, the CMDRF has received Rs 129 crore.

On Thursday, CPI leader and MP Binoy Viswam said that he would donate Rs 1 crore from his MP fund for rebuilding the flood-affected areas. He has urged the Rajya Sabha chairman to give sanction to for immediate utilization of the fund for rebuilding Kerala.

Kerala Congress (M) chairman K M Mani said all MLAs and MPs of his party would donate one month’s salary to CMDRF.

Vijaya Bank contributed Rs 5 crore to the CMDRF. Chairman and managing director of Vijaya Bank A R Sankara Narayanan handed over the cheque to the chief minister on Wednesday.

B R Shetty, founder of Finablr Group, and chairman of Unimoni, UAE Exchange and NMC Healthcare, met chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and handed over a cheque of Rs 4 crore.

QuEST Global has handed over the company’s contribution of Rs 50 lakh towards the CMDRF.

In addition to this, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that several states have come forward with food and other essential commodities to the flood-affected areas. Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have promised the supply of essential commodities. Telangana has already given 500 metric tons rice and Andhra has promised 2,000 tonne and Chhattisgarh 2,500 tonne.

Pepsico foundation, the CSR wing of Pepsico, contributed Rs 1.05 crore to the relief fund.

Pepsico India CEO Ahmed Al Sheikh handed over the cheque to CM Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday.