Devastating floods in August 2019 adversely affected more than 2 lakh people of Sangli and Kolhapur districts of Maharashtra. As many as 223 villages in Kolhapur were hit, out of which 18 villages were badly hit and around 29,000 people were affected in this district. Damages due to floods, besides the loss of human life, farm animals and pets, heavy crop losses were evident in these areas. The floods caused damage to standing crops, homes, and property, leaving people homeless and in need of assistance.
The faculty and students of D.K. Shinde School of Social Work in Kolhapur participated in relief work, providing essential supplies, health check-ups and health awareness camps during this time of distress. During the fieldwork at Khochi village, Hatkangle Block of Kolhapur District the team identified a need to construct permanent homes for the Bhoi community, a nomadic tribe, whose housing structures were destroyed by the floods. With the help of alumni and CSR funding from the UPS Foundation, flood relief homes for eight families at a cost of Rs 43.3 lakhs were built.
These efforts were led by Dr D. N.Valvi and Dr S.S. Apate with assistance from our alumni Mr. Syaji Chavan who helped the Institute representatives from the sanctioning to the completion of the project while, engineer Mr. D.S. Mali had put his efforts for supervision and completion of the project.
