By IANS,
Chandigarh : Sikh organisations have come together to hold a mega blood donation camp in Punjab’s pilgrimage centre of Anandpur Sahib Tuesday and they hope to enter the record books by getting 25,000 people to donate blood in a single day.
Led by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the mini-parliament of the Sikh religion, and various other Panthic (Sikh) organisations under the aegis of the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, the blood donation camp will be held at Anandpur Sahib, 85 km from here. The town is known for the Sikh shrine Takht Keshgarh Sahib.
The blood donation camp is being held on the occasion of the Sikh festival of Hola Mohalla, which coincides with the Indian festival of colours, Holi.
The voluntary camp aims to clock over 25,000 donations in a single day and enter the Guinness Book of World Records.
To be held in a big marquee with 700 beds, the camp hopes there will be 2,500 donations in one hour, averaging 15 minutes per donor, an organiser said here Monday.
The camp will start Tueday at 7 a.m. after a religious ceremony by Sikh high priests.
Besides having many teams of doctors and para-medics, the organisers are making arrangements to get the dontaed blood flown to various hospitals in India. Over 110 blood banks from across the country are to collect blood from this camp.
To ensure the smooth functioning of the camp, 5,000 volunteers, including 3,000 paramedical staff, will be deployed, said a spokesman of the organisers.
Arrangements have been made for the stay of nearly 20,000 donors coming from different parts of Punjab and other states. Over 5,000 donors are expected from the areas adjoining the shrine itself.
A special train carrying 1,500 donors would arrive from Nagpur in Maharashtra, the spokesman said.
‘Kar Sewa’ (voluntary service) activists will provide assistance and refreshments to the donors, he added.
The first five donors will include Jaswinder Singh, the head granthi (priest) of ‘Harmandar Sahib’ (popularly called Golden Temple or Darbar Sahib) and other top priests and organisers of the event.