Margao
Legal Aid Cell of V.M. Salgaocar College of Law,
The state of Kerala
recently faced one of its most gruesome hours of life with the worst flooding in over a century
that affected the state badly. The extent of which caused severe devastation
leaving the state in ruins with immense damage to life and property, leading to
loss of many lives while leaving several others homeless.
At this moment, wherein the affected people desperately needed
help to recover and rehabilitate the state and the people, the ‘Legal Aid
Society’ of “V.M Salgaocar College of Law” actively participated in the
national effort to support the noble cause. Several legal aid cells run by the
college across the length and breadth of Goa joined hands in volunteering to
help our fellow citizens of Kerala.
The “Margao Free Legal Aid Cell” of V.M. Salgaocar College of
Law, Miramar functions every Saturday at ‘Our Lady of Rosary High School,
Fatorda’ between 3:30pm and 5:30pm. The cell members are continuously involved
in conducting various awareness programmes to inform the general public about
the establishment of the cell and the services they offer. Any person having
any sort of law-related problem can approach the Legal Aid Cell and seek help
from its members. The activities conducted by the cell strive to make access to
justice a reality for a common man.
In this regards, the “Margao Free Legal Aid Cell” began with its
collection drive on August 22 2018 alongwith the help and support of Fr
Conceicao D’silva, Parish Priest of ‘Our Lady of Snow’s church Raia’, Assistant
Parish Priest Fr Pedru Costa as well as Fr Domnic Noronha, Chaplin priest of
‘Our Lady of Rosary Chapel Davorlim’. The cell also tied up with Magsons
Supercenter -Fatorda, Borkar Super Stores – Fatorda, Baskin Robins Ice-Cream
Parlour -Margao and Guru Medical Stores -Curchorem as collection points for the
people of South-Goa to voluntarily donate in kind towards the relief work.
The cell members volunteered and urged the customers at these
stores to donate the commodities that were most required by the people in
Kerala. The materials donated by the people towards the same included adult
clothes, kids clothing, kid’s nappy pads, baby care, adult diapers, sanitary
napkins, biscuits, rice, rawa, wheat flour, sugar, salt, spices, warm clothes,
towels, blankets, foot-wears, inner-garments, tea and coffee powders, oil
packets, mosquito nets, floor mats, toothpastes and toothbrushes, soaps, Dettol
etc.
The cell members then worked tirelessly to collect, segregate
and pack these donated materials. The materials were packed separately based on
the type of items donated in kind by the people along with the colour codes
that were circulated across social media platforms. For instance – Yellow
colour towards ‘food-ready to eat’, Orange colour towards ‘food-to be cooked’,
Green colour towards ‘medicines’, Blue colour towards ‘clothing &
footwear’, Black colour towards ‘personal hygiene’, Red colour towards
‘Disinfectants and cleaning’, White colour towards ‘baby care’ items.
In all, the cell
members managed to collect upon segregating and packing as many as 266 boxes of
relief materials which were then handed over at Madgaon railway station on
August 28 2018 for further transit. These materials were later sent across by
train from Madgaon railway station to Kerala via Konkan Railway train number
10215: Madgaon-Ernakulam Superfast Express on September 2, 2018. The
consignment was then delivered at Ernakulam railway station the very next day
i.e September 3, 2018.
The consignment was
received at the Ernakulam South railway station by judicial officers headed by
a C.B.I. Judge at C.B.I. Court in Kaloor, Ernakulam who were carrying out the
relief work especially in receiving the materials and dispatching it to the
areas affected. Later upon receipt, they arranged the received consignment in
front of the railway police station, re-sorted all the materials again and then
accordingly sent it across to the relief camps.
Later, even after the
consignment was sent across to Kerala the “Margao Free Legal Aid Cell” members
received some more materials in kind. So, these materials were then handed over
to Sister Maria on September 14 2018, who is based in Karnataka and undertakes
several social work in Margao on a regular basis like providing medical aid,
offering free clothes to the needy, giving a make-over to the street hawkers
etc especially at Madgaon railway station. Co-incidentally, there was an
untoward incident that occurred at Curchorem where a house caught on fire and
the family members who were not so well-to-do needed help. It was here wherein
the materials that were donated to Sister Maria came to help as these clothes
and food materials were handed over to them and it served their purpose during the
loss caused due to the fire-accident.
The
cell members along with the cell professor incharge – Professor Sonal Sardessai
would like to whole-heartedly thank the store management and staff at all the
collection points setup for their complete and unconditional support in helping
them with the relief-materials collection. The cell members would also like to
thank the people of Margao, Curchorem and the parishioners of Raia, Davorlim
for generously donating and helping to provide the much needed aid to the people
suffering in Kerala. Further, they also wish to express their gratitude to
Sister Maria, Mr. Abel Barreto and his family members for the storage and
segregation assistance, the Additional District Magistrate, South Goa – Mr.
Agnelo Fernandes for his assistance and also the Chief Manager/Strategic
Planning and Business Development, Madgaon Railway station -Mr. J.E. George for
the logistics.
