From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Jan 24: The archdiocese of Bangalore will join the diocese of Mysore to raise funds to build houses for some of the victims of last year’s rain havoc, floods and landslides by organising a music concert by the renowned singer Sonu Nigam and his troupe at St Joseph’s Indian High School grounds in Bengaluru on Sunday, January 27 at 6 pm.

In the first instance, funds are proposed to be raised for constructing at least 100 houses at an approximate cost of Rs 5 to 7 lac each.

The Mysore diocese has already donated 4 acres of land at Hattihole in Kodagu district and work on constructing about 40 to 45 houses in sites of 60x40 ft is proposed to commence in the next 4 to 5 weeks.

Sonu Nigam

Addressing a news conference in Bengaluru on Thursday, Dr Peter Machado, Archbishop of Bangalore, and Fr Rayappa, vicar general of Mysore Diocese, said the initiative of the church was separate from the rehabilitation work taken up by the state government, which has reportedly identified 4 to 5 places.

The beneficiaries have been selected from the poorer sections irrespective of their religion, caste or language and care has been taken to identify deserving families, who have been left out during the selection by the State Government.

The Archbishop said the Archdiocese had already mobilised Rs 1.60 crore in the wake of the August 2018 devastation while the Mysore Diocese, which has jurisdiction over the Kodagu region, had raised Rs 2.5 crore.

“We hope to raise more funds for the rehabilitation work,’’ the Archbishop said pointing out that the popular online event portal, BookMyShow, will be marketing and selling the donor tickets priced from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 each.

Sonu Nigam will be charging the minimum for the concert in view of the charity nature and BookMyShow has assured that at least Rs 30 to 40 lakh profit and already almost 60% of the tickets have been sold out.

Along with the Sonu Nigam music concert, a souvenir to highlight the social work efforts by the Church and also raise funds through advertisements will also be published, he said.

The souvenir will comprise of articles on the initiatives for helping street children, HIV afflicted persons, physically and mentally challenged persons as also leprosy patients.

Answering questions, the Archbishop said the Catholic Church has launched a Disaster Relief Fund to mobilise funds for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims of natural calamities and tax concessions under Section 80G and 12A of the Income Tax Act have been obtained.

“One of the most ambitious projects proposed to be taken up by the Archdiocese is to build nightselters in different wards of Bengaluru to help the shelterless people to spend the night from 7 pm to 7 am daily. We hope to start work on constructing the nightshelters soon,’’ he said disclosing that three wards in the city have already been identified.