By Syed Khaled Shahbaaz, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad: The Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana, Mahmood Ali, distributed Ramzan relief aid provided by Sahatya Trust to 500 underprivileged families under the Zakat Distribution program at Khaja Mansion, Masab Tank on Sunday at 10.30 AM.
The relief aid contains food grains and groceries for daily needs for the month of Ramzan. Addressing the beneficiaries on this occasion, the Deputy Chief Minister said that Islam is a religion of peace, brotherhood and charity – traits one must exercise splendidly in the holy month of Ramzan. He asked the beneficiaries to make the best use of resources while lauding the Sahatya Trust for its humanitarian efforts.
Deputy CM of Telangana Mahmood Ali distributing the Ramzan Relief Aid among poor Muslims on behalf of Sahatya Trust. Mr. Anees uddin CEO & Trustee of Sahatya Trust is also seen.
He said that the tradition of relief distribution among the weaker sections of the society must be popularized as the sharing of joy is the essence of humanity. Mr. Anees uddin, CEO and Trustee of Sahatya Trust said every year the Zakat distributed by affluent people (on whom distribution of Zakat is obligatory) in Hyderabad amounts to about 1000 crore rupees yet the poverty among poorer Muslims is not eliminated. He said that people must distribute their Zakat through organized sector like noted trusts and zakat foundations to effectively curb the poverty, and benefit the weaker sections.
Mr. Anees said the Sahatya Trust, established by a group of NRIs under the patronage of US-based NRI Mr. Manzoor Ghouri, has been organizing the Zakat distribution program since 1997 throughout India. This year, the trust is delivering a $4,00,000/- equivalent to 2.3 crore rupees of aid to poor with 100 lakhs of food grains in AP alone and 1.3 crore rupees in the rest of the India to needy families specially orphans, physically challenged persons and widows in the form of Zakat, Fitra and Sadaqah.
Iftar arrangements has been made by the trust in 800 remote villages of India with Iftar in each village costing 9000-1000 rupees. The trust has covered 483 villages last year. The trust primarily focuses on diverse areas including Education, Healthcare, Community and Social Service and Emergency Relief with its social ventures and grants obtained in the form of service support and fund utilization.
As part of its social endeavours and community service, the trust has established Challenger International School, Indo-US Hospital, Pushpagiri Eye Institute and also runs a Mobile Science Lab in Hyderabad, Telangana. This year Tech Mahindra has awarded one year contract to the trust to organize science labs in 18 government schools in Hyderabad in 1 year.
Grant programs of the trust provide services in health care through the trust’s India Health initiative (AP, UP, Haryana) and Sahatya Clinic (Hyderabad, Telangana). Over 2000 free cataract surgeries have been performed while about 30,000 economically backward people were screened free of cost.
A health awareness programme organized by the trust in Hafiz Baba Nagar has benefitted more than 8444 people suffering from hypertension, diabetes and eyesight problems. The trust periodically carries out programs favouring educational scholarships, rural education, economic development, and also provides free education to orphans.
Other grant programs include providing orphanages for girls, school bags and book distribution for school students, food and meat distribution to poor families, and setting up bore wells at villages. The trust also provides interest-free loan for the benefit of the poor and has built homes for flood victims in Kurnool by supporting construction of nearly 400 houses. It has also constructed a community center and prayer hall in Nizdur Village costing about 40,00,000/- rupees.
It has also exercised grants for the victims of Bhagalpur riots, Gujarat Riots, Assam riots, Uttarakhand floods and Muzaffarnagar riots. The distributed package contains 15 kgs of Rice, 2 Kgs of sweet oil, 2kgs of dal, 1 kg of tamarind, ½ kg of chilli powder, 200gm of Haldi and Ghee each, sufficient for a family of 4 for Sehri and Iftar for 30 days.
The trust wishes to increase its financial base from 8 crore rupees to 20 crore rupees by next year.
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Ramadan 1435: TCN series