CM comes to the aid of a talented student courtesy social networking site

Updated on: Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's Facebook page proved advantageous for a financially weak but talented student in fulfilling his academic dream after his efforts of several days to seek help from the state government machinery delivered no results.

It is how the two-way communication on the social networking site helped Shakeel Ahmed for attending 'New York University Stern Leadership Programme' in USA for which he was selected along with seven other students from the country.

Gehlot immediately approved Rs 2.7 lakh to sponsor the visit when he came to know about the plea of the student, who hails from the city and currently studying in Mumbai's St Xavier's college on scholarship, last month.

The family of Shakeel, who had been chosen to interact with US President Barack Obama during his visit to Mumbai in 2010, was unable to afford to send him to attend the programme so he approached government officers in the state secretariat last month.

After getting no response from them, the student contacted the chief minister on his official Facebook page 'Apka Mukhyamantri' and narrated his situation and sought his help.

"As he mentioned his plea, the admin team of the page contacted him and called him to Jaipur where Gehlot met him and immediately sanctioned the financial help and congratulated him for his bright future here last month," an official source told.

Shakeel said, "I was so worried and helpless because last date of completing formalities was approaching and I had no money. Just a day before the last date, I had an opportunity to meet the chief minister on 23 January who extended the help. Now I will be attending the programme in USA in May."

"The kind help will go a long way towards accomplishing my goal, which is to serve the country and Rajasthan," he added.

'Apka Mukhyamantri' page is being widely used as a platform to publicise the schemes and programmes of the state government and also in helping people in getting their grievance redressed.

CM comes to the aid of a talented student courtesy social networking site

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