Bihar Calamity - Lets join hands to help: Uday Shankar
MUMBAI: All of you would be aware of the terrible floods that have crippled Bihar. But the magnitude of the devastation may have escaped our attention ? even from Indian standards, these are said to be the worst floods in almost a century.
Around 15 days ago, river Kosi broke open its embankment in the Northern part of Bihar (bordering Nepal) to pick up a channel it had abandoned over 200 years ago, drowning towns, numerous villages and rendering over 35 Million homeless. 15 Districts in the state are now under 8-10 feet of water. More than 10 Million people have sought refuge in relief camps and search & rescue operations conducted by the army & security forces are still rescuing thousands of Children, Women & Men who are in urgent need of relocation & medical assistance.
This tragedy is comparable to the Tsunami that hit us a few years ago and this is the time for all of us help in every which way we can.
A large number of these are people who have deep relation with Star TV: they have engaged with us for years through our programmes. We have triggered emotions in them everyday now for over a decade and today when they are struck by a tragedy of this magnitude, Star cannot abandon them. That is why, as a responsible corporate but even more as the company that has perhaps the deepest emotional relationship with common people of India, STAR India has decided to provide immediate assistance in the form of relief materials like Food, Clothing & Medical Supplies to the relief camps in Bihar. To fund these activities, we are creating a relief fund.
I appeal to all employees in Star to contribute at least a day‘s salary (you can also contribute more) to the relief fund. The company will match the contribution made by the employee‘s and the sum collected will be used to procure relief materials and distribute them in Bihar. We are also trying to reach out to our other corporate and commercial partners to help the victims as much as they can. I shall keep you posted on the nature and extent of our help.