Staff Reporter –
A leading cardiologist across the Tasman lead a fund drive and collected A$23,010 for the victims of the earthquakes that rocked Nepal over the past two months.
Sydney based Indian Australian Association of NSW Inc President Dr Yadu Singh and his friends met Nepal’s Consul General Deepak Khadka at his office in North Sydney on May 27, 2015 and handed over a cheque for A$22,789, promising to present another cheque for $221 collected by his friend Kashif Amjad over the next few days.
Association Treasurer Chidanand Puttarevanna and Accountant Yateender Gupta accompanied Dr Singh to the meeting.
Fraternal help
“Nepal suffered a massive earthquake killing more than 8500 people and causing massive destruction. I was informed that our fundraised money is the biggest amount raised from any Indian Australian community group/network. We are proud and very pleased with what we have done for our brothers and sisters in Nepal,” Dr Singh said.
Writing his blog, he said that a number of organisations and individuals were involved in the fundraising drive.
“I am grateful to the gems of our community. I acknowledge the services of Pravin Gupta and pay tribute to his persistence, encouragement, support and effort in this project. We did not use any money in this fundraising. We have handed over every Cent that we collected. We completed this work following principles of transparency and accountability. Each step was described and is out in the open,” he said.
Reinforced faith
Dr Singh said that the fundraising project re-affirmed his belief that the Indian community has a vast number of decent, caring and good-hearted people, who will open their hearts, and pockets if they have the assurance and trust that their money will not be swindled or scammed.
“I give everyone my personal 100% guarantee that I have never allowed, and will never allow, any public money to be swindled or scammed away, if I am part of any such project,” he said.
