Durga Puja organisers in city organise blood donation camp with 1,526 people

Kolkata: The Durga Puja organisers in the city have joined their hands for a noble cause bringing in more than 1,500 people under one umbrella to donate blood.

As many as 1,526 people donated blood at the blood donation event organised at Khudiram Anusilan Kendra under the banner of Forum for Durgotsav that presently has 300 puja committees under its aegis.

The initiative of the forum assumes significance as blood donation camps across the districts are a few with the summer days setting in and the political personalities getting involved in campaign for Panchayat election. State Power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharjee, Minister of state for Tourism Indranil Sen and Bidhannagar MLA Sujit Bose attended the camp.

"We had started a campaign on social media as well as through banners and hoardings for the last few months. Our target was to collect 1,500 units of blood for donation. We are happy that we have surpassed our target with 1,526 people coming forward for the noble cause," said Sandipan Banerjee, vice-president of the Forum.

There was a unique gift for all the donors who were handed over VIP passes for 300 pujas of Durga Puja in 2018.

There are nine leading blood banks in the city and the districts who will store the blood collected from the camp.