A Birbhum boy studying at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, has raised Rs 1.5 lakh from his friends and teachers at the institute to distribute relief among at least 1,000 needy people in remote areas since the lockdown started.

Shyam Swarup Mondal, a PhD scholar of IIT Guwahati hailing from Kashiara, a remote village in Birbhum’s Labhpur, around 26km from Santiniketan, found that poor people in his area didn’t have daily essentials since the lockdown was imposed on March 25 .

“In towns and semi-urban areas, there are several organisations to help the needy but in remote areas the poor are helpless. So, I started raising the fund from my friends and teachers at IIT,” said Shyam.

Shyam used social media to appeal to his friends and others to help raise some funds so that he could help the needy.

“I was surprised when my friends started depositing money in my accounts. One of my teachers also donated recently,” he said.

Several villagers and his friends like Ranjan Debanshi, a masters’ degree student, and Nabin Pal, a private company employee, have came forward to distribute the relief. Pal had also contributed a few thousand rupees to carry out the relief.

Shyam and his friends are distributing rice, potatoes, pulses, soybean, soaps and other essentials to around 1000 families in Kashiara and adjacent villages, including Dhaltikuri, Kurumba, Bunia.

“The relief has helped us a lot as we are out of work and have no money,” said Rabi Hembram, a farm labourer from Kashiara village.

Shyam’s friends at the IIT said they came forward realising the urgency of his appeal in times of such crisis.

“Shyam is my classmate and a social worker by nature. We felt happy to contribute to his effort and some of our teachers also supported him,” said Shamik Das, a classmate of Shyam who is from Malda.