Maha floods: CM Relief Fund gets Rs 20 crore in just two days

Responding to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' appeal for financial aid for flood victims, people from different walks of life and institutions have donated Rs 20 crore in just two days in the CM Relief Fund, an official said on Wednesday.

The Chief Minister Relief Fund has received Rs 20 crore in two days and the donors range from industries to individuals to political parties, he said.

The encouraging response came after Fadnavis appealed to people to come forward to donate generously for relief and rehabilitation works undertaken in flood-ravaged districts of Maharashtra.

Among the prominent donors is this years Sahitya Akademi award winner, poet Sushilkumar Shinde, who donated his entire prize money of Rs 50,000 in the CM Relief Fund.

Shinde personally met Fadnavis here and handed him over cheque of the said amount.

Other prominent donors include the Saifee Foundation and Saraswat Bank, who donated Rs 1 crore each to the fund on Wednesday, the official said.

Besides some BJP workers and elected representatives, the CM Relief Fund received Rs 50 lakh from the Rashtrawadi Welfare Trust, which is linked to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Over half a dozen districts in Maharashtra have been badly affected by floods triggered by heavy rains. Among them, Kolhapur and Sangli in western Maharashtra are the worst hit.

Till Tuesday, 6.45 lakh people were shifted to safer locations in Kolhapur and Sangli, officials have said.