Media Release
Mangaluru, Apr 7: St Aloysius College administration distributed food grains and essential items to families of underprivileged students here on Tuesday. Nearly 200 such families were helped to cope up with the ongoing lockdown.
Rector of St Aloysius Institutions, Fr Dionysius Vaz said that many families of Kannada Medium students studying in St Aloysius High School and Primary School and even families of other more impoverished students benefited from this move. “Our institutions have many students who come from impoverished families. Many of them are children of daily wagers. With the lockdown in place, they have no means to earn their living. Hence we thought of helping them,” he said.
The kit of essentials contained 5 kg of rice, 2 kg sugar, half a kg tea powder, 1 kg daal, 2 litres edible oil, 2 kg salt and half a kg of chillies.
Fr Vaz also said that in co-ordination with Mangalore City Corporation and the Labour Department, the college has helped underprivileged families of construction workers from Bihar and UP who were stranded in places like Sutterpet, Jeppu, Allipade in Bantwal taluk, Kavoor and several other areas. “We would like to help at least about 2000 families. In fact, with the support of the benefactors, we can reach out to all those underprivileged people who are struggling with daily needs.”
The administration was ably supported by Fr Richard D’Souza of Canara Communications of Mangaluru diocese and environmentalist Jeeth Roche.
While the locals are helped by the district administration through the Public Distribution System (PDS), the migrants and construction labourers are finding it extremely difficult to find food. However, the locals complained to the volunteers who went to distribute the food items that what they received through the PDS was just bare minimum.