THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Donations pouring into the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) crossed Rs 500 crore an official spokesman announced here.
Donations transacted have amounted to Rs 539 crore, of which Rs 142 crore were effected online through the banks and Unified Payments Interfaces (UPIs) featured on the CMDRF payment gateway.
Besides this, the CMDRF account maintained by State Bank of India has received Rs 329 crore and the office of the CMDRF Rs 68 crore committed by way of cheques and drafts.
Donations can be made online through the website https://donation.cmdrf.kerala.gov.in from within the country and abroad, the spokesman said.
Donors can also use the gateways of South Indian Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Federal Bank, Airtel Payments Bank, ICICI Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank, and Dhanlaxmi Bank.
Similarly, the UPIs of Paytm, Bhim and SBI or QR codes can be accessed for transacting donations. An estimated 3.3 crore persons have already used the online route for making donations till date.
The UAE-based B.R. Shetty, founder of the Finablr Group and Chairman of Unimoni, UAE Exchange and NMC Healthcare, handed over a cheque for Rs 4 crore to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday.
Adani Foundation, the CSR arm of the Adani Group, has committed Rs 50 crore for relief and rehabilitation of flood victims in Kerala, the group said on Thursday. It will provide Rs 25 crore for immediate relief to the CMDRF, and an equal amount for rehabilitation and resettlement. Adani Group employees have also pledged a day’s salary to the effort.
The Kerala state committee of the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation has handed over to the Chief Minister a cheque of Rs 25 lakh as the first instalment towards the CMDRF.
PepsiCo Foundation, the philanthropic arm of PepsiCo, has donated Rs 1.05 crore ($150,000) for support towards relief and rehabilitation efforts in Kerala. Over the past 10 days, a PepsiCo India team has been assisting with immediate relief and distributed 6.78 lakh litres of Aquafina drinking water and 10,000 kg of Quaker Oats.
The employees and management of QuEST Global, which has a presence here, has donated Rs 50 lakh towards the CMDRF. S Narayanan, Center Head, QuEST Global, Thiruvananthapuram, and Sonia Kutty, Global Head-HR, handed over the cheque to the Chief Minister here on Thursday.
The Group of Technology Companies (GTech), representing the Kerala IT community, has announced a target contribution of Rs 25 crore over the next 12 months, towards the rehabilitation efforts.
This will be a community-driven initiative involving the IT companies in the state and their employees. The preliminary contributions from GTech member companies have exceeded Rs 5 crore and many associates and clients of IT companies in the state have pledged their support.
