Abu Dhabi: The senior management staff of the Abu Dhabi-headquartered Lulu Group International will contribute Rs100 million (Dh4.98 million) for the flood-hit South Indian State of Kerala, the company’s top executive announced here on Thursday evening.
M. A Yousuf Ali, chairman of the Lulu Group, said he requested his senior colleagues to take up the ‘salary challenge’ proposed by the Kerala Chief Minister and donate their one month’s salary to the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund. (CMDRF).
“ I am fulfilling my duty,” he said while presiding over a public meeting of the visiting chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, at the Indian Social and Cultural Centre (ISC).
Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance, inaugurated the public event. He said Keralites are close to the heart of the UAE.
Ali, who is also the chairman of the ISC, said the group has more than 48,000 (forty eight thousand) staff across the globe but he asked only the senior staff to make the contribution.
Ali urged all businesses in the UAE, owned by Indians and others,to contribute their bit for the reconstruction of Kerala.
V. Nanda Kumar, Chief Communications Officer of Lulu Group, said around 200 senior management staff have already contributed the money, which will be transferred to the chief minister’s fund on Friday.
Yousuf Ali has earlier announced a total of around Rs 200-million (around Dh10 million) donation for the reconstruction of Kerala. The staff’s contribution is a separate initiative.
