Over 2K donate blood at camp held in city

KOLKATA: About 2,327 people participated in an annual blood donation camp held by the Forum for Durgotsab—an organisation of 45 community Pujas in the city—at Netaji Indoor Stadium on Sunday.

The camp was attended by state Power minister Aroop Biswas, state Fire and Emergency Services minister Sujit Bose, state Women and Child Development and Social Welfare minister Dr Sashi Panja, politician Debasish Kumar and TMC Member of Lok Sabha Mala Roy, amongst others.

The camp was divided into different zones representing North and South Kolkata, Kasba, Behala and others which included Howrah. There were 15 state government blood banks present and the target for this year's grand event was to reach a total number of 2022 blood donations.

"Like conducting Durga Puja, this (camp) is also part of our social work. Bengal's Durga Puja) got UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) status and in celebration of that, our target was kept at 2022," Saswata Bose, general secretary of the forum said. Ahead of Durga Puja, the forum holds the blood donation camp every year. Last year, it was organised in September and the total collection was 1600.