Less than 48 hours after Paytm began accepting payments for Kerala flood relief, CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma announced on Twitter that Paytm has collected more than Rs 10 crore from more than four lakh users
"We are extremely proud to announce that we have received contributions of INR 10 Crore+ in less than 48 hours from more than 4 lakh Paytm users across India for #KeralaFloodRelief" Paytm tweeted.
As Kerala reels under the worst floods of the century, Paytm started a ‘Kerala Floods’ option on its app for people to donate money.
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According to Paytm CEO, all the money collected by the company along with Paytm’s own contribution, will go to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
According to a blogpost by the company, Paytm will match the donations made by its users. “Every contribution you make, Paytm will match it Rupee for Rupee. For instance, if you contribute Rs 100, we will add Rs 100 from our side to the contribution. And we will make sure it reaches the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund,” it said in the blog.
Paytm will be matching donations up to Rs 1 crore.
Not just Paytm, several other online portals have come forward to help.
Google has put out a consolidated and pin-dropped list of centres providing rescue operations, including shelters, food and water, medicine and essentials, volunteers, jeep rescue and ambulances, among others. Find it here.
Amazon has partnered with three NGOs - Habitat for Humanity India, World Vision India, Goonj. Users can browse through the items available at these NGOs, purchase them and donate.
So far, over 320 deaths have been recorded and 2 lakh people have been moved to relief camps in various districts.
According to official figures, 71,591 people had been rescued from Aluva district, 5,550 from Chalakudy, 3,060 from Chengannur, 2,000 from Kuttanad, and 741 from Thiruvalla and Aranmula.