Thiruvananthapuram, August 15, 2013: School students from the city on Wednesday handed over the relief fund collected for flood victims of Uttarakhand to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at Cliff House in the city.

The fund was collected under the ‘one-rupee programme’, in which each student contributed Re.1 towards the Chief Minister’s relief fund for the flood victims.

Interacting with the children, Mr. Chandy said all people should equally enjoy the freedom the country offered.

Agri-friends group

More than 50 schools in the district had joined the initiative, which was introduced in the schools through Agri-friends, a community of agriculture enthusiasts.

Students were asked to contribute one rupee, which was collected through volunteers and student leaders.

The representatives of Agri-friends arranged the meeting with the Chief Minister.

Speaking to The Hindu , member of Agri-friends K.Jayakumar said the idea was to tell the children that they had the responsibility to come to the aid of the affected people.

Four schools handed over the fund, amounting to Rs.10,000, to the Chief Minister while some schools had directly sent the fund to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

More schools had come forward to offer support to the disaster victims, he added.

Source: The Hindu, DT. August 15, 2013.