Philanthropists sell used clothes at Rs13 to poor

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 27

An association of retired government employees and philanthropists has come up with a novel idea of providing clothes to poor people at Rs 13 per piece. Many poor persons purchased the clothes after the inauguration here today.

Ashwani Kumar, a member of the association, said: “We have received used clothes in donation from city residents. We sell these to poor people. The money thus earned would be used for helping in the medical treatment of the poor who cannot afford it.”

He said the price of Rs 13 had been fixed in view of a story from the first Sikh master, Guru Nanak Dev, who had helped poor people.

Members of the association said salwar-kameej and dupatta would be sold for Rs 13 as a set while men clothes as trousers and shirts would be sold for Rs 13 separately. BR Sehgal, Heera Lal, Onkar Singh Thakur Sarup Singh, Chaturbuj Sharma, Surya Partap Singh, Tarun Arora, Vicky Sharma, Rajendara Kumar were among those members present.

They said a cloth trader who had shut down his business had donated his entire unsold stock to them. “We would give ladies suits to poor parents whose daughters are getting married. We also request people to donate clothes which can be worn,” said association president Surya Partap Singh.

The shop would operate from near Amrit Senior Secondary School inside Gate Hakiman from 11am to 3pm every Sunday. The idea of opening such a shop was copied from a similar shop, ‘Neki Di Dukaan’ already running in Ludhiana, said the association members.