Bengaluru: To possess money and part with it to help others is one thing but to sell off your possessions to feed others brings one into another league altogether. Two businessmen brothers, Tajammul Pasha and Muzammil Pasha, in Karnataka’s Kolar district have done that. They have sold their land worth Rs 25 lakh to help people in need amid the lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic.

The brothers saw daily wage labourers and their families in Kolar suffer during the lockdown and decided to sell their land. They bought essentials and food grain, oil and cereals for a large number of poor people with the money. Then they set up a tent next to their house and started a community kitchen to make food for labourers and homeless people.

“Our parents died early. When we shifted to our maternal grandmother’s place at Kolar, people from all the communities, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims helped us survive without any religious bias,” said a visibly emotional Tajammul Pasha.

The Pasha brothers are into banana cultivation and real estate. Tajammul was five and his sibling Muzammil was three years old when they lost their parents. They had to move from Chickballapur to Kollar, where their grandmother lived.

“We were brought up in poverty. We survived because of the support of people of all communities and religions. We have signed the society agreement bond and handed it over to our friend who purchased our site and gave the money,” the brothers said.

Once the lockdown ends and the land registrar’s office opens, the remaining steps to transfer the land will be completed, they said.

So far, the two brothers have helped over 3,000 families. They have also given hand sanitizers and masks to the poor.

The Kolar administration has issued passes to their volunteers.