Relief for CM’s teacher and old age home; leaders, officials swing into action

The cyclonehit old age home New Life Foundation from where a school teacher of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and other political heavyweights sent an SOS message to get the shelter repaired before the monsoon was visited by government officials politicians and good Samaritans on Wednesday to the delight of the inmates Shiv Senarsquos youth wing has promised to bear the cost of repairs apart from getting beds for the inmatesAs Tauktae tore through the structure of New Life Foundation its 29 elderly inmates as well as staff members were forced to sleep on broken beds without mattresses as these got drenched in the heavy rainfallRajesh Moro who runs the facility said ldquoA number of people as well as media persons visited the old age home after midday published a story on Wednesday The Tehsildar madam too visited and conducted the survey of the damagerdquoEfforts are now on to fix the roof before the onset of monsoonSuman Randive who has taught the likes of CM Thackeray his cousin Raj and cabinet minister Jayant Patil ldquoPlease get it repaired before the onset of monsoon else we will have no space to hide ourselvesrdquoldquoThank you midday for conveying my message to the chief ministerrdquo said the 88yearold former teacher of Balmohan Vidyamandir Shivaji ParkAlso Read Uddhav Thackerayrsquos teacher sends SOS to CM after cyclone TauktaeTehsildar Ujwala Bhagat said ldquoI read the story in the morning and visited the old age home whose asbestos roof got blown off in the cyclone I also interacted with the elderly people there We will get the roof covered at the earliestrdquo Bhagat saidThe inmates havenrsquot had a good nightrsquos sleep ever since Tauktae ravaged their shelter in VasaiReaders too thanked this correspondent for frontpaging the hearttouching report on midday Shiv Senarsquos youth wing president Rahul Kanal said ldquoOur leader Aditya Thackeray has asked me to extend all possible help to the old age homerdquo They plan to give 30 beds and mosquito nets and make the roof concrete as a longterm solution ldquoI have asked Moro to get me a quotation for the whole repair work at the shelter home We will bear all the expenditure for the samerdquo Kanal saidldquoIt was really a very very emotional piece which midday has published highlighting the deplorable condition of the school teacher of honrsquoble chief minister and other prominent politicians We will extend all possible help before the onset of monsoonrdquo Kanal saidOn Randiversquos wish to meet the CM Kanal said ldquoOnce I visit the shelter I will connect her with the CM on video conferencingrdquoSenarsquos deputy president of Vasai taluka Diwakar Singh and his associate Pankaj Deshmukh among those who visited the shelter on Wednesday ldquoOur minister Eknath Shinde told me to visit the old homerdquo He too promised all possible helpAvinash Kuse the president of local NGO Samadhan Foundation too called on the shelter owner ldquoNot only the roof but also the structure has got damaged I have suggested to the owner to first get the structural audit of the premises before making its roof concrete I have noticed a few cracks in the wallrdquo said KuseApart from repairing the shelter a new building can also be built since the premises is huge said Kuse This way they can accommodate more elderly persons he saidThe zonal deputy commissioner of police Prashant Wargunde said they are trying to explore if a company can be roped to help the shelter under its CSR activity ldquoWe got to know about the damage to the shelter through midday We are working on to get funds to keep their shelter home secure Though it will take time we will not give uprdquo Wargunde saidMNSrsquos youth wing leader Akhil Chitre said they functionaries are also trying to assess the damage Calls and messages to MNS chief Raj Thackeray and cabinet minister Jayant Patil went unansweredDespite the odds the elderly inmates were seen dancing to music blaring from a cellphone ldquoI am planning to get the TV set repaired once the restoration work is completerdquo said Sarita Moro the wife of Rajesh29No of inmates at the old peoplersquos home