GSBs collect Rs. one crore plus for Rashtra Raksha Nidhi

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Dec 24, 2016: The joint efforts of the GSB community and a team of youth  to collect funds for "Rashtra Raksha Nidhi" has paid rich dividends. Though the objective was to collect Demand Drafts of Rs 365 each, from 10,000 persons amounting roughly to Rs 36 lakh, the drive has already collected close to Rs 1 crore.

The DDs will be handed over to defence minister Manohar Parrikar during his visit to the GSB World Convention Stage at Hejamady on Dec 25, Sunday and the fund will be used to help wounded soldiers of Indian Army.

Manjunath Kamath, one of the youths who took part in a two phase-bike rally from Goa to Mulki and later from Kannur in Kerala to Hejamady in Udupi district for this purpose, said he is overwhelmed by the response.


"In the first phase, Rajath Shenoy, Karthik Pai, Ramchandra Bhat, Param Bharadwaj, Stanly Fernandez and Manjunath Kamath were in the team. However, others, even those from outside the GSB society, joined the initiative, he said.  He said it was decided to hold a bullet rally so as to reach a wider audience.

Taking cue from this initiative, another team of youths have commenced an awareness drive for the same cause and intends to collect Rs 1 lakh. "We started the drive three days back with about 200 members. We have primarily approached government officials and they have responded well. The DDs will be handed over to Parrikar during his visit," Ashwith Kumar from Mangaluru, who is part of the initiative said.