As promised, here are the details that have been gathered so far. Thanks to Shri Anand Ramaswamy for doing this on behalf of all of us….Here are the details. Little longer post – pl read it fully.
Smt. Dr. Sadhana Rao, a 72 year old elderly woman has been doing Gho Samrakshanam for the past 42 years. She is a qualified surgeon who left her practice in UK to serve Gho Mathas. She setup a Gosala in Neelangarai many years back. The Gosala has a total of 583 cows (528 normal cows + 55 disabled cows) There were few Hindus and Jains groups supporting the Gosala financially as well as providing the food to Gho Mathas every day. Unfortunately Neelangarai, the place of Gosala has urbanized a lot recently. The local residents complained to Chennai Corporation about the Gosala being a hindrance to their posh lives. Chennai Corporation ordered and moved the Gosala to Oothukottai, Thiruvallur District. This move has resulted in significant disruption both in terms of financial contribution as well as food supply for the Gho Mathas as people lost contact with the Gosala because of the sheer distance. On top of that, some of the current supporters have withdrawn their support etc.
For the past 4-5 months the situation has been spiraling down but has now hit a nadir with the Gosala having a debt of 11 lakhs to their cattle food suppliers. This amount needs to be paid to the suppliers who has been supplying food to Gho Mathas for the past few months. So to qualify and quantify, the immediate need is to mobilize 11 lakhs and help the Gosala get out of this crisis mode they are in right now.
By clearing this debt, the ghosala is only stopping the bleeding situation and not permanently solving the problem. Even after this debt is cleared, the situation will not get any better UNLESS one of these two things happen (1) more volunteers come forward to adopt these cows by supporting on a monthly fashion and/or (2) move those cows to a different shelter where someone can take care of them – even then funds are needed to do so. In any case, any of the shelters would need support to maintain the cows.
As you may know, the current on-going fundraiser through Kanchi Guruparampara Foundation (KGF) has received donations towards three major causes (1) Veda rakshana (2) gho rakshana (2) temple renovations. Donors have given contributions either by marking for a specific cause or without marking at all. Either way, the amount we have collected towards gho rakshana & in general is not a lot. Despite, KGF will do its contribution for this cause within our limits.
Having said that, first and foremost, I strongly suggest that you send your contributions to Dr Sadhana Rao directly at::
Indian Institute of animal welfare: Andhra Bank, Neelangarai branch, SB account, Number 132710100033564 IFSC code: ANDB0001327. Contributions are tax exempt under
Contact Person – Smt. Dr. Sadhana Rao – 9840456623.
If you do not have things setup to send money directly to India, only in that situation, please send contribution to KGF and email girishsai108@gmail.com with your details for tracking. If you have already contributed to KGF towards gho-rakshana in 2016, then you do NOT have to contribute again unless you want to contribute more. Details on how to contribute still want to contribute can be found in
http://kgpfoundation.org/support.html
Very important notes:
Our job is not to just send some amount and stop thinking about this. The fundamental reasons for this problem are these. We need to understand these and think forward to avoid such issues in the future also….
(1) Urbanization of outskirts of Chennai and people’s compromise for ghosala over their comforts etc and that drove this ghosala from its current place to much farther place. Let us think before driving such ghosalas out. We understand that every city expands but we should learn to live with such sacred ghosalas, which are going to only help our community and not disturb. They are an embodiment of all devatas.
(2) Understanding the needs for adopting cows. Even if it is one cow per year, if 500 people contributes for one cow each, such ghosalas can run smoothly. This is applicable for any ghosala, whom you think they are genuine and not suspicious.
(3) Since I know that this ghosala is run by a noble lady, I am posting here in the blog. Beyond that, I do not have any connection with them. So, for any further queries, questions, follow-ups, status etc, please contact Dr Sadhana Rao directly at the number provided above. I will not have any information on their progress.
Hope this helps
Hara Hara Sankara Jaya Jaya Sankara!
