Children pose with their bicycles at United India Apartments.
Residents of United India Apartment, a co-operative group housing society in Mayur Vihar Phase I Extension, donated 10 second-hand bicycles to underprivileged girls recently.
Several unused bicycles were lying on the society’s staircases and would have been done away with. Bhuwan Singh, a resident and member of the managing committee, and some other residents thought of donating the bicycles to those who needed them instead.
They knocked on several doors in the society and urged residents to donate unused bicycles. If they did not have bicycles, residents were requested to extend monetary support towards the repair of bicycles that were donated. They received 10 bicycles.
On being asked how they found the girls, Singh said that he approached Uma Kanan, a resident who works with an NGO that caters to the underprivileged and who is also a teacher at Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalay in Mayur Vihar. “I urged her to identify girls whose parents can’t afford to buy a cycle and want to send their daughter to school. She gave me 10 names – all living in a slum in Yamuna Khadar [East Delhi],” Singh said.
The bicycle distribution programme underway in the society.
The children were very excited when their names were announced at the programme in the society. When asked what she would do with the bicycle, Sangeeta, a girl who lives in a jhuggi (slum dwelling) and is a student of standard 10th in Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalay, said, “I would ride it to school.”
“I often urge my parents to buy me a bicycle as I have to walk four kilometres to reach my school. But I know they can’t afford it. Now, that I have one, I can go to school every day,” she added, with a smile on her face.
Purusottam Das Bhatt, president of United India Apartment’s managing committee, said, “There are young and well educated members in our managing committee. They always come out with unique ideas involving residents to make the society a better place to live. When this idea was discussed in a meeting, I personally urged many residents to come forward.”
Singh added, “I thank all those who donated cycles and gave monetary help to repair them. Now we have decided to reach out to other housing complexes in the area and urge them to donate their unused cycles for the noble cause.”
