Muzaffarnagar:
It was an appeal that had been sent through out through NDTV just two days back over the weekend. But due to an overwhelming response of the viewers, Uday Foundation managed to collect around a thousand blankets and 1500 warm clothes. (
Donate blankets for Muzaffarnagar relief camps)
The appeal was triggered by reports of children dying in relief camps at Shamli and Muzaffarnagar, camps which housed those who were seeking shelter post the September riots.
At 4 in the morning, we set out for Shamli district which had 12 relief camps with almost 16,000 people. Our first stop was the relief camp at Khurgana village. The camp had 292 families staying there. Around 300 blankets were distributed there. The village chief Mohammad Khalil Chauhan, was organising the distribution. He told us about the children and the elderly, who were most vulnerable in his camp. "Since the government has not come here yet, we are relying on people like you. You all are giving hope to these people". (
See pictures of the blanket drive here)
The next relief shelter, was another four kilometres away, Dabedi Khurd. The shelter had 72 families. The lines here were smaller, but women came out in larger numbers. We met Nazia Khan, cradling a three-year-old baby, hunting for warm clothes in the pile that would fit her baby. She had reportedly lost a one-year-old girl to the winter chill just a couple of weeks back.
The last stop was the relief shelter at Bipur village. This was a long drive away and had over 300 families living there. The camp was spread out over a large area, but when the NDTV-Uday Foundation truck reached the area, a crowd appeared in no time, with people queuing up to collect the woollens and blankets.
By the end of the day, all that we had brought was distributed.
Dr Jitendra Mahajan of the foundation who accompanied us in the trip said, "We had been distributing relief at camps every winter. But we were mostly restricted in Delhi, or Lucknow or Kupwara. But this time after reading and watching the reports coming out from Muzaffarnagar, we decided to come here. We will be sending more trucks with relief materials in the coming few days."
We left Shamli at 3 in the afternoon, leaving behind a lot of warm, smiling children.