Lawyer donates one acre land to poor

Espousing a charitable cause, a lawyer in Kerala has donated one acre of land, a gift he received from his parents, to a group of landless poor.
In what is seen as a rare gesture of selfless service, Niyaz Sayeem, hailing from Attingal near here, gifted his land, estimated at several lakhs of rupees in the real estate market, at Mangode village in Kollam district, to 15 families.
Ten more deserving beneficiaries would be identified and given land soon, Niyaz, who practised in the Supreme Court in 2003-04 as a junior to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, said.
"I decided to distribute the 1.10 acre of land, received from my parents, to the needy people as I wanted to utilise that for a noble cause," he told PTI.

"My objective is to create a 'Gandhigram' comprising the families to whom I have given the land with all basic facilities like water, sanitation, aganwadi and a public library. For this purpose, a trust named 'Gandhigram Rural Development Trust' is also registered," the 39-year-old said.
The 15 beneficiaries, who were identified from the list of landless people available at the panchayat, have been given four cents of land each.
Those who received the land included widows, orphans, handicapped and differently-abled, the lawyer said.