Jamaat-e-Islami Hind appeals to people to donate for Kerala relief

Hyderabad: The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (TS & Orissa), whose volunteers, including a team of doctors are in the relief operations in Kerala, appealed to people to contribute generously to help the southern state to recover. Speaking to media persons at Media Plus auditorium on Monday, Hamid Mohammed Khan, state president, said since the Central government has taken a decision not to allow foreign funds it was the responsibility of everyone to help the Kerala return back to normal by generously extending financial help.

Throwing light on the devastation caused by the flooding, he said that several villages were cut-off from the mainland as over 200 bridges were washed away. The death toll could not be estimated but it could go up by hundreds. More than eight lakh people were displaced and forced to take refuge in shelter homes. More than seven thousand homes were severely damaged either partially or fully. 15,000 km road and 221 bridges were washed away.

Over 80 per cent of the State has been cut-off from power supply. More than 6,000 relief camps have been opened. 48 land-slides cases were reported causing heavy damage to life and property. Water treatment plants were badly hit resulting in shortage of pure drinking water. Thousands of people were yet stranded in villages. “If we estimate the damage, it would be more than Rs 20,000 crores, this is the worst flood ever to hit the State of Kerala in nearly a hundred years of history,” he said.

He condemned the politicisation of the ‘natural calamity’, as some leaders have described this as god’s fury for beefeaters and some others have discouraged by citing some other reasons. He recalled when the nation unitedly helped the people in Uttarakhand about five years ago and the issue was not politicised. “If it was god’s fury on Keralites, what kind of fury had triggered flooding in Uttarakhand then?” he questioned the rationale.

The JIH president informed that peoples foundation and its associates NGO’s like IRW, SIO, GIO, Solidarity forum are engaged in the rescue and relief operations with the help of thousands of volunteers. A team of doctor (DARE) is already camping at Kerala. “We strongly believe that the people of State of Telangana in particular and people of India in general have a big part to play in this endeavour. We appeal all to come foward and donate generously to help the affected people of Kerala,” he appealed.