by Sachin Murdeshwar

Mumbai : During Covid crisis, one of the major concerns amongst students is regarding difficulty in reaching exam centres. Anappeal was made by IIT Delhi’s Director, Prof V Ramgopal Rao to IIT alumni and current students to helpthe JEE candidates from any remote locationswith transportation facility.

The call-for-help germinated independent actions from IITDAA,IITB and IITM alumni and finally converged into a user-friendly portal viz www.eduride.in.The student from any poorly connected areas can register on Eduride portal and request for a ride on his/her exam day to reach the centre.

Entire solution was put in place by a team of IITiansled by Mr Rohit Koshy (Past President, IITDAA) andcoordinated by Mr Sanskar Jain (IITB), Kalpen Shukla, Shantanu Mathur, Gaurav Goyal, Mukul Singla, Amit Grover, Sanjay Kedia, Parmesh Ranjan, Saksham (IITD alumni) and Swadeep Pillarisetti (IITM).Within first 24 hours of its launch, the portal received 2000+ requests for rides. A team of 150+ NSS student volunteers are managing the back-office coordination.

Welcoming this initiative, Prof V Ramgopal Rao (Director, IIT Delhi) said, I appreciate these effortsand celebrate it as a glaring example of the innate spirit that we all carry to help the needy in our society. I am confident, this portal will not only ease the commuting difficulties for the candidates, but will also boost their confidence by making them realize that we are all with them.This support may be extended during future exams also.

Good Samaritans are also requested to contribute at https://iitdalumni.com/donation/180

Aptly summarised by Mr Ravindra Kumar (President, IITDAA), the entire challenge was successfully resolved – from concept to completion – in true IITian’s ‘never-say-die spirit’ !