An appeal from mayor Sunil Prabhu to provide financial aid to the Mayor’s Fund has got good response from Mumbaikars. In the very first month of his tenure, the fund has received a substantial amount of `2.90 lakh.
The Mayor’s Fund was established in 1956 to provide immediate help to the needy during natural calamities, and its domain was later expanded to aid underprivileged patients suffering from serious ailments. The mayor’s fund has reserves of `2.05 crore and the interest procured from deposits is used to provide help to people.
After taking over as mayor, Mr Prabhu had appealed for donations for the fund. “It’s good that people responded positively. The more the fund, the more the aid that can be given to the poor and needy,” Mr Prabhu said.
His predecessor Shraddha Jadhav had also appealed for donations to the Mayor’s Fund, and had raised around `25 lakh during her two-and-a-half year tenure. Ms Jadhav had also planned to organise a fund raising entertainment event, but the plans were shelved due to poor planning.
According to civic sources, several past mayors have failed to get contributions to the Mayor’s Fund. A civic official claimed that apart from Datta Dalvi and R.T. Kadam, most did not even make any effort.