The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Coimbatore which was established in 1929 stepped into its 91st year on 6.9.2019. In connection with this, the Chamber Day Celebrations were held in COINDIA Auditorium.
The esteemed Past Presidents and the current office bearers &members of the Chamber took part in the event with their family.
V.Lakshminarayanasamy, President, ICCIC after his Welcome Address stated that the Chamber has been supporting Coimbatore in its industrial, Commercial and Trade needs and made strong representations to the District Administration State& Central Government for the past 90 years and will continue to serve the city.
He said that as a part of the Celebration, the Chamber is honoring 3 unsung heroes of Coimbatore for their phenomenal contributions to the society and environment at large.
The Honoring of Unsung Heroes:
B.Pandiarajan, Sparrow Conservation Foundation.
A Turner by profession and a sparrow Conservationist by passion, B.Pandiarajan has been providing Wooden Boxes to people across Tamil Nadu who wish to aid the lives of sparrows in their neighborhood.
Prior to 2011, this man along with some like minded friends, wished to trace the diminishing count of sparrows in the state. He found that it is the changes we have made to our living has been the primary reason for the absence of sparrows.
“Sparrows depend on us for its habitat. They use to nest near our homes when we had clay roof tiled houses. When we spilled grains in our verandah while cleaning them, the birds used the fallen grains as a food source. Now that we have changed the way we live, they find it difficult to survive” said B.Pandiarajan.
As a way to help these birds survive, he started to make boxes out of cardboards first and placed in places for sparrows to rest and breed. With the birds stepping in to find a place of solace, he worked with even a lot more zeal.
In 2013, this guy and his friends started making wooden boxes and gave it freely to those who wished to help the birds. He has placed 30 wooden boxes in Ukkadam Bus stand with the support of govt and around 200 sparrows have nested there. His work with sparrows and his actions have made educational Institutions call him to give lectures.
Loganathan, Welder.
Loganathan’s tale would shake you to the core. This man has gone to the extreme level of being a responsible Indian citizen. Loganathan who must be in his 60s at least is welder by day and a sanitary cleaner by the evening. He has his Lathe Workshop and is making a decent living but ever since he found the value of giving to the needy, he has been on a mission to help the underprivileged children.
So to do that, he cleans toilets. True to the saying ‘There is dignity in all Jobs’, he gives what he gets from this second job to the Development of the poor children.
” My father worked in Railway Police Department. He would give his khaki dress for me to alter and stitch. On the eve when Indira Gandhi was assassinated, I found a North Indian family struggling to carry their luggage and head to the nearest lodge. I volunteered to help them.
Initially they thought that I am going to loot them but I only wanted to help. When I finished my work, they were happy and asked me how much do I need. I asked them to give me any dress that is colored as I became bored with khakis. That day I found there is value in giving to the needy. From then till now, I have made it my habit… to help the poor in the way I could.” said Loganathan.
Santhosh Krishnan, Facebook’s famed Coimbatore Weatherman
While most people complain that internet and Facebook has spoiled the current generation, this gentleman stands a testimony that the usage of those two by the user decides how best or worst it is used, and he (Santhosh) has used it for the benefit of society.
He predicts/forecasts weather for the Kongu Belt areas and his predictions are a hit among the farmers and people. He has a 11k followers on Facebook and many firmly follow his forecasts.
“My grandparents and my parents are from the farming community. I have seen my grandparents predict the possibility of rain with their eyes. I would observe them. I would look at the wind patterns and in my collegiate period, I used the internet to study about weather forecasting models. In 2017, I found that my forecasts are being used by farmers and many would ask me when it would rain, so that they could prepare in advance.
I took my work to the social media platform and now it feels good to see it helping people”, ended Santhosh.
The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Coimbatore has identified these three unsung heroes who live amidst us. For the three heroes, C.Balasubramaniam, Vice President; Rajesh B Lund, Vice President and B.Sriramulu, Vice President, ICCIC honored them with Citation while V.Lakshminarayanasamy adorned them with shawl and presented cash rewards.
This was followed by cultural programs and the event ended with the Vote of Thanks by CSK Prabhu, Hon.Secretary, ICCIC.
