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28 March 2024

Dubai philanthropists build homes for poor

KT Hashim, President Sainudeen Chalery, General Secretary,. Shamsudeen Koothuparampu, Treasurer, Relief Committee Chairman O Moidu, Dubai KMCC Kannur District Unit NTDE Operations Manager Haris, CK Dwood, Shafi Muttam, P Usman Thalashery. (Supplied)

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By VM Sathish

KMCC Kannur Unit has ambitious Ramadan Charity projects for helping the downtrodden back home in India.

A group of more than 8,000 residents of the UAE are spreading the message of compassion and charity during the holy month of Ramadan by taking initiatives to build 25 houses for the poor, 100 small scale business units for the downtrodden and poor in rural areas, setting up generic medicine hubs for the poor patients who cannot afford the expensive branded medicines for life threatening diseases, and scholarships for higher education of the educationally and economically backward sections of people residing in various villages of Kannur, in the Malabar region of Kerala.

Speaking about their charity drive to help the bretheren back home in the Kannur district of Kerala, the leaders of Kannur District KMMC unit in Dubai said a three year road map has been drawn up to build 25 houses for the most eligible people living in 11 constituencies of Kannur district, as part of the Beit Ul Rahman housing project being carried out in the state in the memory of   Shihab Thangal, the spiritual leader of Muslim community in Kerala. 

Beit Al Rehima charity project is building around 1,000 houses for homeless people and many KMCC Units are contributing.

These projects involving a total budget of Rs5 crore will be implemented with the cooperation of the district and local governments in Kannur.

“We will be building 25 houses, each costing Indian Rupees 800,000 will be built to poor residents living in Kannur and Mahi area. The foundation stone laying ceremony for these 25 houses being built with the support of KMCC well-wishers and members will be held during the beginning of next Ramadan. In the past too we have helped build houses for the poor, but now there is an organised move to build 1000 houses for the poor as part of Beit Al Rehima project,” said Sainudeen Chalery, General Secretary, Dubai KMCC Kannur District Unit. He added that 8000 plus members of the KMCC unit will jointly help the projects for the poor man’s houses and other projects being planned to help the lower strata of society, irrespective of their religion. KMCC is the overseas wing of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a political party which is part of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) coalition government in Kerala.

“We will be starting 12 generic medicines hubs through which affordable generic medicines will be made available to the common man, who cannot afford to buy exorbitantly expensive branded medicines. The price of a specific branded cancer drug is around Indian Rupees 40,000, while the generic medicine is available for Indian Rupees 4,000. We will try to encourage more generic drug hubs and the first three generic medicine hubs will be set up adjacent to the CH Centre near Pariyaram Medical College, Thaliparampa, one near the Kannur District Hospital and the Thalassery Cancer Centres,” added Sainudeen, who has been recently elected to the post. The group was earlier involved in providing free drinking water –hot and cold water... in government hospitals for the benefit of patients, and set up free kidney dialysis centres. In addition, medical expenses of the most eligible patients suffering from very special disease will be met by the KMCC Kannur Unit and a special health insurance scheme is also being launched for the members and their families back home. The Kerala Government is also encouraging generic medicines in the state.

KT Hashim, President of Dubai KMCC Kannut Unit said the organisation will help set up 100 ‘shelters’, small scale business units for the rural unemployed entrepreneurs, by giving them seed capital and other support. “These are small scale business units to be jointly run by six to seven people in one village. Formed in the model of Kudumbashree units, they will produce and sell their own products and services. One of the successful units is a Somosa factory that makes 3000 and sells Somosas (an Indian cutlet) per day. There is a very successful highway street restaurant and a tailoring unit started with our support. We will be helping set up 100 such units in different parts of Kannur and Kahi,” Hashim told Emirates 24|7.

Another focus area of the KMCC Kannur unit is to provide scholarships for higher education, especially for doing professional courses. “Already more than 1000 students have received scholarships from our organisation. This year onwards, we will select 30 poor and meritorious students who have completed Plus Two education to compete in entrance examinations through rigiourous training lasting five years. A Bright Educare Scholarships will be made available to these 30 meritorious students to become truly professionals in various fields,” added Sainudeen.