Prakash Jha has come forward in his appeal for gathering relief for Bihar floods. His appeal is as below:
Kosi Maiyya (Mother Kosi), as we revere her in Bihar is angry. Angry because she has been uncared for and ignored for too long. This time her fury and devastation is unprecedented. She has changed course by miles and flooded vast areas of North Bihar submerging more than 8 districts and displacing nearly three million people. It will take weeks... months to even estimate the loss of life and property. But the trauma that these people have gone through will perhaps never be estimated...
Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh has called it a NATIONAL DISASTER. Help has been coming from State Governments across the country. Aid has been pouring in from individuals, institutions and corporates to ease the sorrow of Bihar. The Government of Bihar is doing its best to organise rescue and relief to the millions but it will be a mammoth task to rehabilitate them.
To share and shoulder the mammoth task of flood relief and rehabilitation we have set up PUNARWAAS, FLOOD RELIERF MISSION, BIHAR. It has been set up under the aegis of ANUBHOOTI, an NGO working in Bihar.
We have adopted Relief Camp ' 22 RD, the village Kattaiya in Basantpur panchayat, which is about 40 kms from the District HQ of Supaul. This camp will provide complete care for these 5000 people. Food, clothing, healthcare, sanitation, education ' and eventually rehabilitation. The camp will also provide vocational training and employment opportunities for these people.
In this mission PRAYAS is our partner.
PRAYAS: Prayas is a humanitarian, gender sensitive and child-focused development organisation, with a vision to restore the lost childhood of neglected, street and working children and the marginalized. Prayas brings with it a dedicated team experienced in disaster management in the Gujarat Earthquake and the Tsunami catastrophe in Andaman & Nicobar.
Several other organisations are providing valuable support to the Punarwaas Mission.
The health care and medical team will be supported by UNICEF.
The Sanitation and Hygiene Management will be supported by Sulabh International.
United Way works with its partner agencies to fund activities and build capacities in areas of children and education, women's issues, civic issues and capacity building of NGOs. United Way will help us raise funds and procure need-based supplies.
Sunil Banka and Associates, a Chartered Accountant and Finance Consultant firm based in Kolkata and Patna, have offered to monitor and audit our fund management on an honorary basis.
My close friends Manmohan Shetty, Nana Patekar and Ajay Devgan have helped me start this project. My peers from Bihar ' Shatrughan Sinha, Manoj Bajpai, Shekhar Suman, Manoj Tiwari Mridul, Neetu Chandra, Udit Narayan, Sanjay Nirupam, Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua and several others are all concerned and trying to do their bit to contribute. Today we have all come together to make an appeal.
However it is a long, expensive and arduous mission. We need help.
An account has been set up in the name of PUNARWAAS, FLOOD RELIEF MISSION, BIHAR, A/c ANUBHOOTI.
Donations are exempt from income tax under 80G (5) act of Income Tax Act, 1961..
Mumbai Camp Office : Contact Person : Shreya Narayan ' Mobile : 09769017937
201 C & D, Abhishek, Off New LLink Road, Andheri (West), Mumbai ' 400 053, India. Tel. +91-22 66781862/ 26732845
Patna Camp Office : Contact Person : S. Mishra ' Mobile : 09931764862
47/ B, Sahdeo Mahto Marg, Sri krishna Puri ' 800001, Bihar, India.
Tel. +91 612 2540555/ 6570318
PUNARWAAS, FLOOD RELIEF MISSION, BIHAR.
22 ' RD (Village Kattaiya), Panchayat ' Deenbandhi, Post ' Sanskrit Nirmali,
Via Balua Bazaar, Distt. Supaul, Bihar ' 854339.
PUNARWAAS is a project initiated by Prakash Jha.