They quench the thirst of Mangaluru residents selflessly

[email protected] (Pavithra Prakash)
May 25, 2016

Mangaluru, May 25: When a majority of political and social organisations in the city have been blaming the City Corporation for failing to supply water regularly for past few weeks, a small group of people turned Good Samaritans for the helpless families that were hit hard by the water famine.

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For the past two weeks, the volunteers of city based Highland Islamic Forum, have been engaged in providing water to the needy families in different parts Mangaluru for free cutting across the lines of religion, caste and creed without any expectation.

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The coastal city faced acute shortage of water this month as the Dakshina Kannada district received 21 per cent less rainfall last year. A few days ago, the water level at the Thumbe Vented Dam, the main source of water to the city, had gone down almost to 4 feet against the maximum level of 13 feet.

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While houses in some posh areas received water twice a week, some other areas got water only once a week. Houses in some upper-reach areas were completely deprived of water supply for last three weeks. Even though MCC opted to supply water to such areas by tankers, its service was only confined for the roadside houses.

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In such situation, the volunteers of HIF made all possible efforts to ensure that their service reaches to the families staying far away from the main roads. They chose most affected areas in the city for their service. For last two weeks they have been supplying water to 150 to 200 houses every day. They fetch water from wells and transport it in three pick-up vehicles using two dozen tanks to the affected area and provide water to the needy for free. They don't even hesitate to climb the stairs to supply water in case senior citizens or patients live in multi-story apartments.

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HIF president Nazim SS, who is ready to send his team to any part of the city where people are facing acute water shortage, thanks all the philanthropists who helped his forum to engage in this noble cause. He said that Falnir ward Corporator Abdul Razzak provided pump set to extract water from a deep well at Attavar. “We supply water in three pick-up vehicles carrying several tanks of 2,000 litre capacity every day,” he said, thanking industrialist SM Farooq, AK group and Deccan Plastic for providing the vehicles. He also expresses his thanks to Milagres ward Corporator Abdul Rauf for extending all the support.

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HIF itself bears the expense of the fuel consumed by the vehicles besides taking responsibility of the food and other requirements of 10 dedicated volunteers. Mr Nazim and other office bearers of the HIF including Ausaf, Suhail Bolar, Rizwan, Nabeel, Dawood, Saleem Adil Parvez, Mahfooz personally monitor the water supplying mission in spite of their busy schedule.

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They have poised to continue this service untill the Corporation starts supplying water regularly. Subhash Nagar in Pandeshwar, Jain Compound in Attavar, Juma Masjid Road in Bolar, Amrit Nagar, Rosario Church Road, Falnir are some of the areas in the city where HIF supplied water regularly for several days.

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The beneficiaries, who comprise of the people of different religions, classes and sections of the society, mince no words to praise the noble deed of HIF. “They are Muslims. We are Hindus. But, they provide us water for free every day without any expectation. We are lucky to have such selfless people in our city,” said Chaitra, a teacher who resides at Subhash Nagar.

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Chandrakant Nayak, whose family has been residing in the same locality for past 28 years, says that he never experienced such a water scarcity in the past. “We were completely deprived of drinking water. Though we have a namesake well, its water is not fit for drinking or cooking. Corporation's water supply tankers never came this side till now. In this juncture HIF volunteers' selfless service helped us to lead a peaceful life in last few days,” he says.

John D'Souza, whose wife gave birth to a baby a few days ago, says that his entire family is indebted to HIF. “We have a newborn at home and the Corporation has stopped supplying water. We thank God for helping us through these people in our hard times,” he adds.

pavithra prakash

The author is a freelance contributor who promotes co-existence and communal harmony.

Comments

satyameva jayate
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Viren.....
If the faith is strong...no one can convert any relegion.....
But it should be worth a relegion and people should feel that they are following the real god....not story based books and charecters written by authors and created by artists............ Educated people started thinking dear....May god help you too..

Basith hussain
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Masha allah HIF May Allah accept it from you

Mohammed Imran
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Great work HIF. Keep it up. May Allah bless you guys!

shahid
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

See the communal mentality of Viren Kotian...Huttu guna suttaru bidadu...

Saleem Malar
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

great work carry on.

Saleem Malar
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Great work carry on

NOOR
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Nobel QURAN tells us that ALL MANKIND is descended from ONE couple (ADAM & EVE ) Thus we are all bro & sis's and our differences is Languages and colors are but a MERCY that we might know ONE ANOTHER. Language and race should never be a reason for discriminating against people.
A MUSLIM should maintain good relations with HIS RELATIVES, but he should not unjustly FAVOR them over OTHERS. Further, A MUSLIM must be good to HIS NEIGHBORS, no matter their RELIGION. But the PROPHET MUHAMMAD pbuh taught us that a \NEIGHBOR\" is not just the one next door but includes all those up to 40 houses in all directions - effectively whole neighborhood...

If a MUSLIM works for the society with good deeds without showoff or expecting anything from people ... Then ALLAH will reward them... That's the purpose A TRUE MUSLIM will expect from ALLAH alone and not from PEOPLE...
When God promises... Then we should help and doesnt expect anything from people... Success and contentment in life comes when we OBEY the CREATOR alone & follow his messenger's advice.

Great work from HIF...May ALLAH reward YOU guys for helping in times of NEED..."

Unun Hasan
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Works like this is the true charm of Islam. We are being doubted of the intention because totally non existent from the side Of the so called Muslims. HIF kudos to u people. You have restarted good works which belonged to muslims, that was forgotten by them since a long long time ago. May the merciful Allah bless u and shower his mercy on you all.

aharkul
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Great Work HFI. May Allah (SWT) reward you in each and every walks of life. Keep it up doing such work.

May Allah give you all a Paradise for your endless help to the sufferer. Aameen.....

Naina
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Hey Viren Kotian!

Oara pokkade kullu maraya.. ninna desett yankleg mone thojpaayere avondijji... bele malpunaklaanda malpaad. ee podu cheddi pard badd kovi pathd shastrabhyasa malpu.

Asif
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Masha Allah...great works....all good deeds with out any expectations in this world will be rewarded ... In Sha Allah

Farooque
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

well done HIF, i would loved to join your social work if i would be thr.

Monika
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Good work HIF and all supporters. You are a role model for other groups.

Deepak Roy
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

No words. May Allah keep them happy always.

Niyaz
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

some cheap mentality people who spent this month in fighting against each other in the name of AP-EK after tight se PK, must learn from HIF

Priyank
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Really good work. god bless them .

Fayaz
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

indeed a wonderful job. really appreciable. this is why Mangalore is called a city of kind and noble people. unfortunately because of some goons and politicians perhaps the cities imaged is damaged.

Viren Kotian
 - 
Tuesday, 24 May 2016

No doubt a good work. but is there any hidden agenda behind this service? Pavithra mam, plz try to find out. We have experienced the service of Christian missionaries, whose only aim is conversion of innocent hindus.

CK Nayak
 - 
Tuesday, 24 May 2016

God bless you HFI. you did a great job. people of mangaluru should learn from you.

Madhu
 - 
Tuesday, 24 May 2016

Good write up Pavithra mam. You have brought to light the noble deed of noble people of our city.

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Agencies
February 6,2020

Even more than three years after demonetisation and all-out efforts to make most transactions through electronic, cash is still king, as it thrives in a digital India, said fintech start-up Paytm founder Vijay Sekhar Sharma.

"While cashless economy is not possible in India, less cash economy will be in the future. Less cash is the only solution, not the elimination of cash," Sharma told IANS in an interview after unveiling an all-in-one payment gateway on Tuesday.

Asserting that it would take 5-10 years for India to make the transition to digital payments from the traditional mode of cash, Sharma, 41, said the e-payment industry benefitted more from the November 8, 2016 note ban and withdrawal of old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations.

"I think it (demonetisation) helped the industry despite lack of specific help. But the world has changed since then. It is about the scale of distribution of merchants that is what is propelling digital payments," said Sharma.

Most of the cash not only came back into circulation, but also remains as the mode of payment for the majority due to its convenience for the people used to such transactions.

Expounding Paytm's zero service charge, Sharma said the strategy is sustainable as it leads to acquiring more customers and merchants, enabling newer business opportunities.

Paytm also does not levy a service charge to small merchants for its payments services, unlike organised players like Uber.

"Though there is a monetisation model, the merchants who are small shopkeepers, become our financial services customers as they open a bank account, which is profitable."

Paytm secured a Payments Bank license from the Reserve Bank of India to offer a savings bank account, Rupay debit card and money transfer services.

"We are banking on payment services acquiring customers and merchants who avail banking, lending, insurance, wealth and software services like billing software and business ledger software services eventually," Sharma noted.

The mobile first bank services include zero balance and zero digital transaction charge accounts.

"Basically, payments, cloud, commerce and financial services are a cohort we follow. So, payments is our customer as well as merchant acquisition. If it breaks even, we are happy because other line items make more money, he affirmed.

Noting that in a market like India, one cannot price services at a premium unlike in a developed country like the US, the billionaire businessman said a consumer in a developing country would not be able to afford such a hefty charge.

Forbes ranked Sharma as India's youngest billionaire in 2017, with a net worth of $2.1 billion.

While several countries operate on the model of higher service charges, Sharma said newer business models have to be discovered in India, as customer lifecycle value is accounted for more stages than in other nations.

Asked about an upscale retailer like Zara not giving a wallet payment option during its recent end of season sale in Bengaluru, Sharma said Paytm was addressing such hiccups with its all-in-one payment solutions.

"It's an opportunity, because if the retailer has our all-in-one point of sale machine, where in they enter the amount, it shows both the Quick Response code (QR) and card payment options," he observed.

Sharma compared older swiping payment machine to feature phones and modern ones to feature-rich smartphones.

"If you notice, they look like feature phones and the modern day card machine is more a smartphone like. You can add the smatphone components, which can add the features," reiterated Sharma.

Though Paytm's all-in-one QR point of sale machine integrates the billing system, its chief executive said it was not ideal to have an independent QR feature.

Paytm has 16 million strong merchant user base, which Sharma aims to raise to 26 million base in the next one year.

Sharma has launched in this tech city an all-in-one payment gateway and Paytm Business Payments solution, which enable digital payments through multiple methods for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and an Android point of sale machine.

With the new gateway solution, collecting digital payments through multiple methods can be achieved seamlessly while Paytm Business Payments solution enables automated vendor payments, including employee salaries and customer refunds among others.

The One97 Communications-owned Paytm aims to help SMEs streamline and digitise their business activities using its new solutions, which enhance the overall efficiency of both accepting and making payments.

Paytm has a data bank of over 200 million saved cards and bank accounts, a feature which enables partner apps to shorten transaction times and propel faster conversions while using the all-in-one payment gateway.

Complementing the two solutions, Sharma also launched an all-in-one Android point of sale machine, which can accept payments through all forms such as cards, wallets, UPI apps and even cash.

The device has a QR code that supports all contact and contactless payments, coming with integrated billing software customized solutions for different sectors such as catering, ticketing, parking and others.

The handheld Android device is equipped with an in-built printer, scanner and can also generate bills.

Valued at $16 billion, Paytm is not alone in the fiercely competitive Indian fintech space where a dozen players like PhonePe, MobiKwik, Kotak 811 and deep pocketed international giants Google Pay and Amazon Pay are in the fray.

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News Network
April 22,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 22: In order to infuse confidence among people to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Karnataka government on Wednesday launched a helpline 'Apthamitra' with an exclusive toll free number and a mobile app, aimed at providing required medical advice and guidance for those in need.

The help line and app was launched by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in the presence of senior Ministers and officials of the department.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Yediyurappa said that the help line was need at this crucial juncture. “If anyone has symptoms of Coronavirus, they can call the helpline from their home, get medical advice or assistance and get their doubts cleared. 

People who call to know the symptoms, an expert team of doctors will advice on what to do next.”

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News Network
March 31,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 31: Persons under home quarantine are directed to send their selfies to the Karnataka government in every one hour, failing which they will be shifted to the state quarantine centres, said Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Monday.

"All persons under home quarantine shall send their selfies to the government on a mobile application in every one hour. Failing to do so, teams will reach such defaulters and they will be liable to be shifted to quarantine centres made by the government," he said.

The home quarantine persons will be given an exception for taking selfies during the sleeping time from 10 pm to 7 am.

"There will be an exception in this order for sleeping time, from 10 pm to 7 am," he said.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka climbed to 88 on Monday after five more persons tested positive for coronavirus.

Of the five, one is a close contact of an earlier confirmed patient and the others are workers of a pharmaceutical company in Mysuru, from where a person had tested positive, the state health department said.

The country is under a 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has infected 1,251 people so far.

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