SHILLONG: The Bihari Welfare Association, like many other organisations, is serving the poor with donations from members of the community as well as well-wishers.
From distributing cooked food in various localities every day, giving out essential items to helping students living outside Meghalaya, the association is working with gusto.
“We are distributing food in Happy Valley, which is my locality, every day and visiting other localities like Jhalupara, Polo and Madanrting. So far, donation is pouring in from our friends in the community as well as well-wishers in other communities,” secretary of the association Rajesh Kumar told The Shillong Times on Monday.
Kumar said the welfare body at times gets money from strangers. The Bihari population in Shillong is around 50,000.
The volunteers distribute tokens to residents of a particular locality so that they can assemble in an area to collect food. On May 17, the association distributed about 50 items, including food and toiletries, among more than 300 people in Happy Valley. It has also listed the names of Bihari migrant workers from the city stranded in other states and “we will try to help them”.
Kumar also said many Bihari households were not getting ration despite possessing ration cards and “we have sent a list of about 25 names to the deputy commissioner for help”. “Some beneficiaries were told that they will get essential items from fair price shops only during the lockdown and not after it,” said Dipak Paul, another member of the community.
Returnees from Kota
Twenty-two students from the community have come back from Kota and they are currently under home quarantine.
The association helped in arranging buses, “though the students paid,’’ and coordinated with the administration in Kota for safe return of the youth, Kumar said.
