All Manipur Handicapped Persons Welfare Association secretary Tongbran Romeo (extreme right) hands over the fund to the representatives of the Indo-Japan Friendship Association in Imphal on Thursday.
Imphal, Apr 22 : Their love for life despite severe handicaps is what helped members of the All Manipur Handicapped Persons Welfare Association relate to the survivors of the quake-triggered tsunami that wreaked havoc in northeast Japan on March 11.
More than 100 members of the association, including elderly women, from various parts of Manipur today donated to a fund created by an Imphal-based NGO — Indo-Japan Friendship Association — in aid of Japan’s tsunami victims.
They donated the amount out of their meagre monthly pensions. “The amount is very small. In fact, we do not want to disclose the sum because it is very small and insignificant. But we want to contribute something to ameliorate the sufferings of the people of Japan in this hour of sorrow,” secretary of the association, Tongbran Romeo, said.
Romeo handed over the amount to Nongmaithem Ibo-mcha, president of the NGO.
The fund, created on April 11, has so far reached the Rs 1lakh mark, with contributions from ministers, government officials, educational institutions and individuals.
The NGO also placed a donation box in the office of a local newspaper and recorded names of the donors.
The fund collection will continue this month and the collected sum will be handed over to the Japanese embassy in New Delhi in May.
“Though we are physically challenged and depend on our families, we want to live. Similarly, the tsunami-affected people also want to live. Our contribution is nothing, but we just want to show the people in Japan that we are with them in this hour of tragedy,” Th. Sumati Devi and Angom Lakshmikanta said.
Most of the association’s members are from Imphal West.
Manipur Peoples Party MLA from Naoriya Pakhanglakpa Assembly constituency, Anand, zilla parishad member from Imphal West Th. Sumati Devi, pradhan G. Bankabihari Sarma and Padmashri N. Nabakishore joined hands six months ago to create the handicapped monthly pension scheme, wherein members of the association, mostly with locomotor disabilities, receive pensions of Rs 200 or Rs 100 per month, depending on the severity of their condition.
The members, who had lost limbs to bone cancer or in accidents, deducted the sum from their monthly pension distributed today by Anand at his residence at Kwakeithel in Imphal West.
After distributing the pension, Anand himself donated Rs 10,000 to the tsunami fund.
Appealing to the people of Manipur to donate to the fund, Romeo, who lost his left leg to bone cancer, said today was the proudest day of his life because he could do something to boost the morale of the people of Japan.