Nov 14 not a mere celebration day; it's a historic day to be recalled: Indian Social Forum

Kuwait: The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the whole world into a difficult situation and the situation of Indians in Kuwait is not any different. Many people have lost their jobs, have no salary, are deprived of food and are not able to pay rent. The appalling conditions of labourers, domestic workers, taxi drivers and low waged earners don’t seem to end in Kuwait. 

At this trying situation when many people were even afraid of leaving their houses because of coronavirus, Suresh S. Rao Neramballi, volunteer of the Food Kit Distribution at the ICSG (Indian Community Support Group) has helped many tremendously. He was ready to go around delivering food kits at any time possible by his car. However, after Kuwait imposed a full curfew from 11th May 2020, no one could take out their vehicles unless they had a curfew pass. 

This did not stop Mr. Suresh Neramballi, who then borrowed a bicycle from a friend and ended up going around in the cycle delivering the food kits in curfew break time (4:30pm to 6:30pm) to all those who registered in the ICSG website. This selfless service surely commands appreciation and applause. Mr. Suresh Neramballi has been a light for many families and bachelors in Kuwait and will surely garner the blessings of them who have been able to eat at this time.

He was also the one who could deliver the food kits to many Indian Muslim maids, bachelors, laborers and families previous day and right on the day of EID, as they were not able to go shopping for their groceries for EID, due to the curfew. They blessed him in EID dua. 

Mr. Suresh Neramballi hails from Mangaluru, India and is an Engineer in the Oil sector company in Kuwait. He has been dedicated to social service, achieved 'Aryabhata International Award' for his Kannada Service and Social service, served in many Associations and Distributor of Kannada and Tulu Movies in Kuwait. He wholeheartedly thanks the people and government of Kuwait for his bread and butter.

Mangaluru, May 22: An elderly cardiac patient from Dakshina Kannada, who was stranded in Saudi Arabia due to covid-19 lock-down, has finally reached his homeland thanks to the timely intervention by Humanity Forum Jubail and Indian Social Forum.

The elderly man hailing from Kadaba area of Dakshina Kannada was admitted to a hospital in Madinah. However, his condition continued to worsen due to lack of proper treatment. The efforts by his family members to bring him back home had not yielded results.

Meanwhile, one of the relatives of the patient, Ansari Suratkal, who happens to be a DKSC activist, brought the issue to the notice of the Karnataka unit of the Indian Social Forum in Dammam. ISF contacted Humanity Forum president Zakariya Jokatte, who helped the patient to speak directly union minister D V Sadananda Gowda in a video conference organised by coastaldigest.com.

Humanity Forum also persuaded the Indian Embassy to allow the stranded cardiac patient to fly back to India through Dammam-Bengaluru repatriation flight on May 20. 

However, it was not easy for the patient to travel from Madinah to Dammam International Airport due to lock-down and curfew. ISF not only obtained travel permission for him but also arranged vehicle. Jeddah and Riyadh units of ISF helped in obtaining permission letter in their respective places in spite of travel ban imposed by the police. Madinah unit of ISF arranged vehicle for transportation. Zakariya Jokatte bore the air ticket and other expenses of the patient.

Doha: Qatar Indian Social Forum (QISF) once again set an example that no caste, creed, language and religion comes as hurdle for their humanitarian services and helped to perform last rites of Ramesh who committed suicide in Doha-Qatar.

45-year-old Ramesh son of K. Nagan hailing from Panikulam, Thrissur district in Kerala, who was working as a tailor committed suicide in his house at Ruwias in Qatar on 30th May 2020.

On hearing this news, some of his friends in Kearla informed Mr. Shihab who is also from Thrissur and a member of QISF and the same was brought to the notice of QISF humanitarian team head Mr. Abdul Latheef Madikeri and Basheer Ahmed of Tamil Nadu.

Immediately, the QISF team intervened and contacted the family members of the deceased in India and discussed the matter and consequences of sending the body back home to India in this pandemic COVID 19 situation.

Considering the prevailing situation, the family members gave the consent to bury the body in Qatar itself.

QISF team collected the required documents from the family of the deceased and managed to clear all the necessary formalities from the police department, Health Department, Embassy of India and Hamad Medical Corporation.

Finally, the body of the deceased was buried in Qatar on 7th June 2020 and the copies of all the relevant documents have been handed over to the family members.

The family members of the deceased thanked and applauded the leaders and all the members of QISF for their effective and on time humanitarian service rendered even in this pandemic crisis and having no bias.