MUMBAI:

Last Friday, which happened to be Bakri

Eid

, sermons in many city mosques were different in the sense that

imams

and preachers spoke about the need to help distressed farmers of Maharashtra. As part of the “Help Kisan”

campaign

launched by NGO Social Educational and Welfare Association (SEWA), the imams’

appeal

to the community to donate for the

drought-hit

farmers has helped SEWA collect around Rs 30 lakh, of which Rs 7 lakh was collected from outside mosques alone.

While accepting the Rs 7 lakh from senior cleric Maulana Moin Ashraf Qadri at Islam Gymkhana on Friday, SEWA president Yusuf Abrahni said a team of volunteers would initially tour three districts (Latur, Beed and Osmanabad) distributing money among 100 drought-affected farmers in each district. “We are overwhelmed by the help being provided by our Muslim brothers. This is true humanism,” said visibly grateful Abuji Sarang, one of a dozen farmers who attended the Gymkhana meeting.

“Islam teaches us to stand by our neighbours in hours of need. We will do whatever we can to bail out the poor farmers,” said community leader Tahir Ashrafi. Activist Saeed Khan explained that the beneficiaries have been chosen very carefully and help is being brought to those who desperately need it or to those whom the government agencies have not reached yet.

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