Expressnews
Chennai, February , 2024: The Seventh Edition of “ALERT Being” Awards was held today to honour and recognise goodsamaritans from various walks of life. ALERT, a voluntary non-profit organization dedicated to making the ‘Right to Life’ a reality in India, organized the award ceremony and presented awards to 13 real-life heroes who have helped save or preserve lives in the following categories: individuals, organizations, and people going above and beyond.
Mr. Seshasayee, Chairman – Adyar Cancer Institute & Asian Paints and Padma Shri. Dr. Mohan Kameswaran, Managing Director – Madras ENT Research Foundation graced the awards ceremony as Distinguished Guests of Honour and gave away the awards to real-life heroes selected by the distinguished members of the ABA jury.
The ALERT Being Awards under the Individual category was presented to 5 real-life heroes who put their life at stake. The Category of Going Beyond Call of Duty was presented to Ms. Jeyalakshmi, a staff nurse from Tuticorin who helped deliver a baby during floods.Under Organisation Category: Nizams Institute of Medical Science for E ICU, United Way of Chennai, Dhara Sansthan and Dharani Geotech Engineers India Private Limited received the awards. The ALERT Being Icon award was presented to the incredible Rat Hole Miners (Uttarakhand Tunnel Collapse) and Pudukudi Melur(Srivaikuntam Floods).
The distinguished members of the ABA Jury were Ms. Veena Kumaravel, Founder, Natural Group of Salons: Thiru. Md. Shakeel Akhtar IPS, Chief Information Commissioner, DGP(Retd); Nawabzada Mohammed Asif Ali, Heir Apparent & Dewan to the Prince of Arcot; Dr. J.S. Rajkumar, Chairman and Chief Surgeon, Lifeline Hospitals; Mr. Sujith Kumar, Founder, Maatram Foundation and Mr. Anandakrishnan, a serial entrepreneur. The event had advisors in Dr. Renuka David, Managing Director, Radiant Medical Services and Mr. C. K. Kumaravel, CEO and Co-Founder, Natural Group of Salons.
Conferred by the Board of Trustees of ALERT, The ALERT Being Award for LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT was presented to Shri. Ratan N Tata for living a lifetime of legendary philanthropy along with business excellence.
Mike Muralidharan, Chairman, ALERT, said “With the Good Samaritan Law in place, we would like to scale up the BLS trained volunteers from around 3 lakh people, to 1 Crore by 2028. While the Covid Years slowed down the training pace, now we are back to speed with Schools and Colleges seeing the importance to train their student, apart from corporates and other communities. These volunteers are our strength” He went on to state that “At times of an emergency, most people have the heart to help, but do not know how to go about it. The aim is to have more people evangelised in handling emergency response to save precious lives, so that no life is lost for dearth of attention”.
Speaking about the awardees, Ms. Kala Balasundaram, Founder Trustee said, “The 7th edition of the ALERT Being Awards celebrates the remarkable contributions of the real-life unsung heroes who embody the spirit of compassion and service. Through this event, we not only honor their selfless actions but also emphasize the critical need for widespread awareness and preparedness in handling emergencies.”
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Rajesh R Trivedi, Co-Founder & Managing Trustee, ALERT said” We received several nominations from all across India, each with extraordinary stories of courage. May it be the Rat hole miners, people of Pudukudi Melur, individuals going beyond call of duty like nurse Jeyalakshmmi and all the awardees, there is nothing bigger than expressing compassion which is at the core of being human. Not just the awards, but the mission of ALERT is honoured by the kind acceptance of the ALERT Being Award for Lifetime Achievement by Shri. Ratan Tata that we all look up to.”
The 7th edition of ALERT Being Awards was supported by BahwanCybertek, Ashok Leyland and VGN Group of Companies as Silver Sponsors; Mark Metro and Tessolve as Bronze Sponsors; Indian Oil Corporation, Naga Foods, Chaitanya Builders, TNKG Foundations and Cottons as Donors. The women award was instituted by Naturals Group. Institutions Partners include PSG College of Arts and Science, Ethiraj College for Women, Sri Sairam Engineering College, AvichiCollege of Arts and Science , Kumararani Meena Muthiah College of Arts and Science, Asan Memorial College of Arts and Science and Prince Group of Colleges. National Institute of Personnel Management was the outreach partner and SuryanFM was the digital media partners. Other partners include Kesar Gift Mart, Keys Select by Lemontree, Kavithalaya Productions, Srikhas Food Zone, JFX Events, Aristo Logistica, Spotmedia and Vimi Magic.
ALERT, a Chennai based NGO is a voluntary non-profit organisation working to ensure ‘Right to Life’ becomes a reality in India marching towards the Goal set by legendary former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam – “Train one in every family on Emergency Care”. On one hand, ALERT trains the common man on emergency response while on the other it collaborates with other stakeholders of the emergency response ecosystem such as ambulance services, hospitals, legal & enforcements, government bodies, research Institutes, etc. to better the emergency response ecosystem. Alert VoICE, launched by ALERT in the previous edition of ABA is India’s first community driven mobile based first responders network. Know more www.alert.ngo
List of Awardees – Alert Being Awards 2024:
