Ludhiana, January 20: BHARTITA Vidya Mandir Trust has donated Rs two lakh for the tsunami victims. The amount was collected from five branches of Bhartiya Vidya Mandir in the city.

The money was deposited in a bank account number opened in the name of Bhartiya Vidya Mandir Tsunami Relief Fund at Punjab National Bank, Rajpura Road.

The one-day salary donated by the teachers and the school staff equalled Rs 84,201, and Rs 15,600 was donated by members of the BVM Trust. This was disclosed by M M Vyas, manager BVM Managment committee, while addressing mediapersons here today.

Vyas said that to inculcate the attitude of helping the society in case of national calamities, we got coupons of Rs 25 and Rs 10 published, and distributed them to the students of all the five branches of BVM including Kitchlu Nagar, Udham Singh Nagar, Cemetary Road, Chandigarh Road and Dugri, Phase 3. Students collected Rs 10,61,525 from people through the coupons.

Those who could not sell the coupens were asked to deposit them as such at the the school, and extra coupons were given to those students whose parents took an active interest in collecting money for the tsunami relief fund. Some people also donated as much as Rs 5901, said Vyas.

Vyas said the students had collected money beyond their expectations. He added that students of the BVM institutions have also helped the victims at the time of the earthquake at Uttar Kashi, Maharashtra, Gujrat and the flood at Mandmotla village in district Hoshiarpur, Punjab.

Meanwhile, Akhil Bhartiya Congress, the People Welfare Society and the Shopkeepers Association of Ghumar Mandi collected Rs 1,23,510 for the tsunami victims. According to a statement issued here, the draft will be presented to Congress president Sonia Gandhi by Munish Tiwari, president of Akhil Bhartiye Congress Comittee.

Meanwhile, the Ludhiana Electroplating Materials Dealers Association presented two cheques to Deputy Commissioner Anurag Verma for Rs 49,000 and Rs 9,700 to be given to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the tsunami victims.