Helping the victims and their families

We just got this email from the kind folks at the Bombay Community Public Trust (BCPT) who we are working with to raise funds for the victims/their families. Please click here donate.

"Dear Sir/Madam,

It was heartening to receive the responses, queries, promises of support (via email, letters, telephone calls, personal visits) from individuals and companies from all over India and abroad.

BCPT has now compiled the complete list of names of victims injured and deceased and the details of next of kin with addresses in many cases. This has been compiled from different sources.

Many other NGOs and agencies are contributing in the relief and rehabilitation work with the victims and families. In order to avoid duplication of efforts, we are focusing on 70 families of the deceased and 82 injured persons. Of these, we have already contacted 56 families of the deceased and 41 injured persons and are continuing to contact the rest.

Many .of the affected persons were young adults working in the city with their families in the villages. For example, Mishrilal Morya was an auto-rickshaw driver. He lost his life in the gun fire at CST. He leaves behind a wife and three young children, the oldest 7 years old, and the youngest only 9 months old. They now have no source of income as Mishrilal was the only earning member of the family. His elderly parents were also dependent on him.

Ashfar Ali Sheikh was a daily wage labourer. He died of a gunshot injury. He was just 21 years old. Young and unmarried, he was working in Mumbai to support his family at home. His father is a labourer on a farm in their village. He also leaves behind four siblings. The eldest works on a farm, two others are in the 9th and 6th standard respectively and one brother is blind.

In these and similar cases we have decided to give an ad hoc grant of Rs. 2 lakh by way of a monthly income fixed deposit scheme to add to the compensation given by the government and other agencies.

We estimate that finally 25-30 families of the deceased may need support and about 50 injured persons will need medical and other support. At this stage, we estimate that Rs. 70 - 80 lakh will be required to support those mentioned above.

We seek your support and trust you are able to contribute in our work.

Thanking you,

Harsha Parekh"