As soon as there was Lockdown in India and therefore IIT Kharagpur campus and surroundings, there was a need to support the large number of people in the neighbouring areas, including but not limited to the less endowed people who come and work for our campus from mess workers, cleaners, home helpers, gardeners, villagers of the surroundings, small shop-owners, rickshaw pullers and other daily wage earners. The IIT Kharagpur Alumni worldwide immediately created a fund that provided full monthly rations, sanitizers, masks to every family. Then a second disaster happened and some of the shops in the lone market (IIT Tech Market) for the campus was gutted in a devastating fire. While the Institute began rebuilding the place, this fund was used to enable all the poor shop owners, who has lost everything, to quickly restart their business. Finally the terrible cylcone Amphan struck. The programme was restarted to again support all those in the neighbouring areas by providing food and other support items. According to the Alumni, these poor people helped us when we were students and have been very important in our lives. The Institute administration has smoothly facilitated implementation of this grant. This timely and large quantity support to more than ten thousand people, developed and executed in a very short period of time help based on sentiments of people all over the world, who graduated even six decades ago has been a very heartening news in these difficult times. The support continues and the fund keeps getting replenished.
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