Delhi students walk for organ donation

Around 1,000 students of Shivaji College in Delhi organised a walkathon Wednesday to create awareness on organ donation.

"We are the first college under Delhi University to organise an awareness campaign on organ donation. In India, 20 people die every day because of the lack of organs for transplantation, so people need to know about it," Shivaji College principal Shashi Nijhawan told IANS.

With placards reading "Donate organs, live forever", the students walked from their college to the Rajouri Garden metro station in west Delhi.

"On Thursday, anyone interested can come to the college and get a donor card, which marks his pledge to save a life," Nijhawan said.

The students were also joined by cricketer Murli Karthik and actress-politician Jaya Prada.

"In other countries, people donate organs but in India, there is very little awareness. So the walk is to let people know they can save lives by donating an organ," said Gunjan Katiyal, a bio-chemistry student of the college.