Hyd realtor’s charity draws praise

Hyderabad City-based realtor Harshavardhan Reddy has donated Rs 35 lakh from his successful ‘Vihara Suravi’ venture in Hyderabad outskirts as charity to construction labour of his project as well as to nearly 100 students, mostly orphan girls and those having single parent.

M Raghunandan Rao, Secretary, Agriculture and Co-operation Department, Telangana was the chief guest and environmentalist Prof Purshottam Reddy was the guest of honour at the Thanksgiving programme held on Thursday at the project site in Kammeta village, Chevella, Ranga Reddy district.

Financial assistance of Rs 50,000 was given to each worker while some families were handed over cheque of Rs 1 lakh each. Students, 95 percent of them are girls, from Vikarabad, Shankarpally, Gadwal and Jangaon areas, pursuing Intermediate, UG and PG, were handed over scholarships ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 each to meet their education and financial needs.

On the occasion, Raghunandan Rao said that Harsha created a new practice in this age when businesses were solely focussing on maximising profits. The senior IAS officer said that he was happy to have participated in such a noble cause to financially help construction labour and poor students.

Purushottam Reddy says, “Harsha is a role model for the construction and real estate sector. The construction sector is the second biggest employer after agriculture. Remembering and helping the labourers and workers engaged in the project was not an ordinary thing.”

Venkat Reddy, the National Convenor for MV Foundation, which helped Vihara Suravi and Harsha Foundation in selecting the students for scholarships, said that youngsters like Harsha are an inspiration for today’s generation.

He said that normally NGOs and other organisations reach out to them to help students but for the first time a real estate firm had got in touch with them for a charity cause.

The dignitaries wished success to Harsha, who is leaving for his Master’s study in Public Policy at London School of Economics, on September 9.

Harsha pointed out that once a real estate venture turns out successful, incentives are given to employees but the construction workers are ignored. He said that workers and families from Chhattisgarh State who worked in his project were treated with respect and paid everyday for 365 days.

He decided to help girl students who were facing financial issues to pursue education. The need of the hour is supporting girl students to study and grow up in life and thus curb child marriages.