There has been an overwhelming response to the Citizens’ Relief Fund set up by The Indian Express to provide relief to the 20 lakh people whose lives were destroyed by the Kosi floods in Bihar.

On September 30, exactly a month after the Fund was launched, donations had exceeded Rs 46 lakh. Contributions have been pouring in from readers of The Indian Express in India and abroad, luminaries from the world of cinema, and conscientious corporates.

Actor Aamir Khan has sent a cheque for Rs 5 lakh, and real estate group Emaar MGF has contributed Rs 11 lakh. Aurangabad-based Components and Forging Private Limited and Emptoris Technology Private Limited, Pune, have made significant contributions.

Retired government servants have been generous.

And Several contributions have come with a request for anonymity.

In an expression of solidarity with the flood victims, students of Sahyadri Residential School in Pune decided to forgo their weekly allowance. Moved by a photograph published in The Indian Express, showing victims scrambling for food at a relief camp in Purnea, two hundred students, aged between 11 and 14, gave up Rs 80 each — perhaps their week’s quota of chocolates and goodies — to help the needy.