Keraleeya Samajam at the forefront of the fight against Covid 19 in Maharashtra

Mumbai: 

In a candid conversation with Media Eye, O. Pradeep, renowned social worker and entrepreneur and ex-chairman of Keraleeya Samajam, Dombivli, Mumbai highlights the various endeavours of Keraleeya Samajam for the benefit of the society.

Keraleeya Samajam, Dombivli, is a socio cultural organisation founded in 1949 by few Pravasi Malayalis living in and around Dombivli, Thakurli area, a distant suburb in Mumbai. Today the Samajam has more than 6000 members on its rolls.  Originally the Samajam was formed with the aim and object of interacting with fellow Malayalis who came to the city seeking employment as well as promote the traditional arts and cultural activities of Kerala.

Over the years the activities of the Samajam considerably shifted to providing education in English medium to the underprivileged people living in and around Dombivli.  In 1965-66, the Samajam started a primary school at a rented place in Dombivli under the name and style of Model English School with a handful of students. Today, Model English School is has five branches at different places in Dombivli with more than 5000 students.

​The Samajam started the Model College at MIDC, Dombivli in 1989 with Arts and Commerce faculty under the Mumbai University. In 2008-9 it added the Science stream as well. In the last three decades the college has grown in leaps and bounds and today has more than 5500 students studying in undergraduate, post-graduate and Ph.D. levels. The Samajam built a sprawling campus at Khambalpada, Dombivli in 2016 and shifted the entire college to the new premises. Recently, the college was conferred autonomous status by University Grants Commission.

​The Samajam and its educational institutions have always been at the forefront in rendering services to people affected by natural calamities in any part of India.  To name a few such events, the Samajam has donated an amount of Rs.25 lakhs to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Relief Fund during the unprecedented floods that ravaged the entire state in 2018. In 2019, the Samajam procured essential commodities worth Rs.11 lakhs and distributed them among people affected by flood in Sangli and Kolhapur districts.

During the initial stage of Covid- 19 pandemic, the Samajam distributed 25,000 masks to its members, hospital staff, auto rickshaw drivers and police personnel in Dombivli.  It also contributed an amount of Rs.10 lakhs to the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Covid-19 Relief fund during first week of April 2020.

The Samajam also distributed 2400 kits containing essential commodities to the daily wage earners and poor people in Dombivli/Thakurli area during the second week of April 2020.  The Samajam endeavours to render maximum possible assistance to the needy people with its limited resources.