Tripura: Girl Children Take Lead in Fund Raising for COVID-19 Fight, CM Calls Them "Laxmi"

Agartala, April 5, 2020:

Tripura girl children are setting examples for the rest of the country by initiating fund raising campaigns. A few thousand rupees collected by a few small girls have drawn the attention of Chief Minister Biplab Deb.

6-year-old Sayantika Deb, 8-year-old old Poonam Deb and a few years elder, Aarya Chakraborty are among the few girls who took the coronavirus pandemic in their stride and instead of investing their savings in buying a new dress or celebrating birthday this year, they donated their years of savings to the Tripura Chief Minister's Relief Fund.

Sayantika, a professional dancer being trained from 2 and a half years donated Rs 6,005—her total savings as of now. She earned the entire sum through stage performances.

Sayantika’s mother Sutapa Deb said that Sayantika had performed in various programs. She also participated in a Doordarshan show in Agartala. She saved the money to buy something special for her. But, she felt it is the right time to use the money, she added.

“She believes, coronavirus pandemic is a bigger challenge and it needs to be fought unitedly. She requested us to approach the Chief Minister’s office to donate the money”, said Sutapa.

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Sayantika’s father Sanjib Kumar Deb, a policemen by profession also expressed satisfaction over the way his daughter had shown the humanitarian move.

Almost akin to Sayantika, Poonam Deb, a resident of Agartala, decided not to celebrate her birthday and asked her father to donate the money in order to wage battle against Corona instead.  Poonam’s father Pijush Deb handed over a cheque of Rs 5,000 which had been kept to celebrate her birthday ceremony.

“We celebrate Poonam's birthday every year. But, this year she refused to celebrate her birthday in view of the social distancing restrictions and requested us to donate the money in the interest of the state. She herself donated the money and prayed for speedy recovery of the coronavirus infected patients”, Deb added.

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Aarya Chakraborty also did the same. She donated Rs 3,005 her piggy bank collection to the Chief Minister’s relief fund. Apart from them, Tripura’s chess prodigy Arshiya Das donated Rs 10,000 to the Chief Minister’s fund.

The Chief Minister also recognized their donation and appreciated them as “Laxmi” in a video message.

It may be mentioned here that children of Northeast India lately have attracted the attention of the people. A kid from Mizoram, Rommel Lalmuansanga, recently donated his entire worth Rs 333 to fight against COVID-19. The boy, hailing from Kolasib Venglai village of Mizoram, made the donation in a bundle of cash and coins to the Village Level Task Forces.

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga happily took to Twitter and tweeted, “This tiny bundle contains Rs. 333/- in cash and coins; 7-year-old Rommel Lalmuansanga from Kolasib Venglai donated his entire savings to his Village Level Task Forces in this war against the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic May the good Lord bless you abundantly You are a Hero!"

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A little girl from Arunachal Pradesh also stole the limelight with her message for the lockdown violators - “My dad is a policeman. He stay away from me to help you. Can you please stay at home to help him?” read her message. The “Arunachal girl”, as she is being called, is now making headlines for her much-needed reminder just at the right hour.

“Our #LittleCoronaWarriors across Arunachal makes fervent appeal to everyone to #StayHomeStaySafe. Let not the hardwork of our policemen and health workers go waste. @PMOIndia @ArunachalCMO @MoHFW_INDIA,” tweeted Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu.

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