by Father Blany Pinto for BISMumbai

With the monsoons at its peak and the incessant downpour, a visit to the three villages was deemed necessary to check the condition and status of the villages and prepare the villagers for any adverse conditions that may arise due to the monsoon. The measures that the villagers may need to take was explained in the event of any landslides or if at all any portion of the mountains collapses due to heavy rains.

However due to the incessant rains during the whole month of July, most of the villagers have experienced flooding in their homes and as a result of the water that entered their homes, the few things they possess have been destroyed.

During the rains, the villagers catch crabs and fish and they sell it for their livelihood. But due to the lockdown, their sale is badly affected and they are struggling for food. To help them in this situation, the Don Bosco Past Pupils Andheri unit networked with Tracelink India Private and obtained relief aid in the form of 177 food kits for the 177 families of the Vaksai, Karanduli and Mundhavare villages. Each food kit had various grocery items which would suffice for a fortnight for a family of four. In the Vaksai village, the Don Bosco past pupils came to distribute the food kits. In the Mudhavare village, the post-XII English Academy boys went to distribute the food kits, on 02 August 2021.

The social outreach staff has made the villagers aware of the Khavti yojna, a government scheme to help the villagers. As per this scheme, the villagers are entitled to provisions such as rice, wheat, sugar, dal and oil. Ofcourse, the villagers do need to have a yellow ration card which entitles the family to the benefits of the schemes. However sadly, not all the families have the yellow ration card and hence are unable to avail this facility.