Residents of Ballenahalli near here have donated the money raised in the village for Ganesha festival towards the relief of people affected by floods. The members of Eshwara Vinayaka Geleyara Balaga handed over a cheque of ₹75,000 to Tourism Minister C.T. Ravi in Hassan on Tuesday.
The members of the committee said they used to celebrate Ganesha festival for a week. This year they reduced the celebrations to a day. “We used to invite artistes to cultural programmes. Hundreds of people from neighbouring villages would take part. This time, we decided to donate the funds to flood victims,” said Devaraju, secretary of the committee.
The committee decided to donate the money towards Chief Minister’s relief fund after discussing with the villagers. “We felt it is not good to celebrate when thousands of people are affected by the floods,” said Umesh, president of the committee.
Mr. Ravi appreciated the gesture shown by the committee.