National Institute of Technology, Karnataka professor raises funds for Covid-19 through webinars


National Institute of Technology, Karnataka professor raises funds for Covid-19 through webinars

An assistant professor at the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka (NITK) has been organising webinars and raising funds for the Prime Ministers Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Funds (PM-CARES fund) during the lockdown.

Kolathayar, an assistant professor in the civil engineering department at NIT, has so far held three webinars on topics like sustainable water conservation practices, earthquake hazards, risk and mitigation and ensuring water security for future.

“The registration fee charged is directed towards the PM-CARES fund or Chief Minister Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF). The interested participants can register by making a donation to the fund or CMDRF directly. To my surprise, the registration crossed 100 in a couple of days for all the three webinars I planned,” Kolathayar told Bangalore Mirror.

He added that the main objective of the webinars is to raise funds to fight Covid-19 and spread awareness on the subjects like water conservation and disaster mitigation.

The registration fees is Rs 100 for each webinar and Kolathayar has so far been able to raise about Rs 15,000 which goes directly to the PM-CARES fund which was created by the government following the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.

“Most participants make a contribution of Rs 100 and some of them Rs 50. In some cases we also accept participants who are unable to pay any money,” Kolathayar said.

He said that the webinars are conducted in collaboration with government, societies or academic institutions like the Indian Society of Earthquake Technology, Kerala State Council for Science and Technology or NITK.

Most of the participants are students, faculty members of institutions and people from various industries. “People from all over the country including a few of them from Nepal have participated in the webinars,” he said.


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