By Verghese V Joseph –
Bengaluru: The Sonu Nigam live concert in aid of Kodagu flood affected people, scheduled to take place on January 27th (Sunday) at St. Joseph’s Indian High School Grounds, has been deferred due to unforeseen circumstances. The next date will be notified shortly, according to a release issued on Friday by Mr J A Kanthraj, PRO, Archdiocese of Bangalore.
The Archdiocese of Bangalore had come up with a mega music concert to support the displaced people of Kodagu, which was ravaged by floods of August 2018.
Led by the versatile, popular and renowned singer Sonu Nigam, the event was to go live on Sunday, however, the event has been deferred for now.
Addressing the media on Thursday, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bengaluru, Most Rev. Dr. Peter Machado, had said, “The main purpose of this event is to reach out and lend an helping hand to the displaced people of Kodagu, irrespective of their background. Tragedies can strike any person and at any place. The concert is towards a noble cause of helping the affected.”
Elaborating further, the Archbishop had said, “The Archdiocese of Bangalore, in close coordination with the Diocese of Mysore, took initiative in extending its support to alleviate the plights of the flood affected victims in whatever way possible. One of the decisions was to provide houses to the displaced families. But we are very well aware of the difficulties in mobilizing the huge financial resources needed for the construction of houses as it is not an easy task and that it poses a great challenge!”
Seeking support of everyone in this initiative, Archbishop Machado had reiterated that, “At the same time, we are also quite confident that, with the goodwill and unstinted support and cooperation of the well-wishers, we will be able to raise the needed resources to achieve our expected goal. Therefore, besides appealing to the benevolent hearts to contribute their mite, the Church has envisioned a series of programmes and events to raise the requisite funds to rebuild houses for the affected victims.”
The devastating floods and landslides that ravaged Kodagu and Kerala in August 2018 affected and immobilised lakhs of people and thousands of families. Unprecedented rains, triggered by cloudbursts, floods and landslides, brought untold misery to the people of Kodagu by rendering them displaced and homeless. The nature’s fury not only swept thousands of homes, but also shattered the dreams of lakhs of people who are yet to get over from this great shock.
The event has been outsourced and will be executed by Olive Hill Media in collaboration with the two dioceses. The event hopes to raise over Rs 40 lakhs for building homes for the affected people. The costing for each house works to around Rs 5 lakhs.
Also present was Fr Vincent Monteiro, the Chancellor of Diocese of Mysore.diocese. Monsignor C Francis (Bangalore Archdiocese) led the prayer. An update on the situation in Mahadevapura and Hattihole – worst hit places of Kodagu district was provided.
In September, Archbishop Peter Machado along with a core-team had earlier planned, monitored and coordinated relief work visited Kodagu on 18th and 19th September and interacted with the victims of nature’s fury. The team visited Hattihole and Mahadevpura where most of the damages happened. About 35 families were displaced, most of them have lost their houses and it was here that one, Francis Montero sacrificed his life while saving others. The team met the wife of Francis and consoled her.