done for all those who lost their roofs to take shelter beneath – copy, pen & pencils, etc. were donated to nearly about 2,500 students approx.. of 5 – 12th standards throughout the several schools in the 5 Blocks of Sundarbans.

Thereafter, we grew as an NGO and obtained our Legal Registration as the NGO under the WEST BENGAL SOCIETIES REGISTRATION ACT, 1961 with our registered name as SHITALIA MAA SOCIAL WELFARE SOCIETY, in the year 2020.

After registration our first milestone was the setting up of the ANANDA NIKETAN PATHSHALA with an aim to work for child education and cultural and moral development of our future warriors – at the beginning it started with 55 students and 4 teachers, operating with its two branches separately at village Shitalia of Sandeshkhali Block II.

At the same time, our Stitching Training Centre named “MAA-er AANCHAL” also commenced with an aim for women’s empowerment and alternative income for self-reliance – at the beginning, it started with 19 registered students and one Training Faculty.

During the COVID crisis of 1st and the deadly 2nd Phase, in the year 2020 and 2021 respectively we have worked with our best efforts to address the needs of the crying souls who were deprived and underprivileged to avail the priority benefits and medical care support at that time by providing them with – ration items, oximeters, medicines, cooked meals, mask & sanitizers, etc. – various COVID awareness camps were organized in various market places and local village areas where COVID protocol Leaflets along with free Mask & Sanitizers were donated for preventing and minimizing community spread – Lunch meals were delivered to the COVID Victim families for a consideration of Rs. 1/- Only under our Project named “MAA-er RANNA GHOR” – Full sanitization was also provided to a few COVID Victim houses.

When in the year 2021, Cyclone Yaas hit the Gangetic delta and the land of Mangroves which brought down a curse on almost every island of the Sundarbans we started working in Four Phases namely –
(i) DISASTER RELIEF by providing dry foods, mosquito nets, basic hygiene items, etc.
(ii) COMMUNITY KITCHEN by providing cooked daily meals two times a day for approx. 35,000 persons altogether for a period of 30 days – this was carried throughout in 3 Villages under the three Blocks of Sundarbans,
(iii) PLASTIC COLLECTION with an aim to make the PLASTIC FREE environment and reduce plastic waste accumulation in the Lands & Rivers of the Sundarbans and to reduce & re-use PLASTIC WASTE,
(iv) MANGROVE PLANTATION with the aim for protection of River Embankments and prevention of Soil Erosion and Mangrove preservation.

Thereafter, post-Cyclone Yaas devastations we started focusing on a few projects aiming to achieve sustainable and long term economic stability along with overall social development for the local community with a view to work out for a more stable solution to minimize the miseries faced by them due to their lack of employment opportunities, lack of stable income sources, lack of proper health care & medical facilities and lack of proper and constructive planning to protect and prevent River Bank Erosion (নদী বাঁধ ভাঙ্গন) which is the most alarming threat for our Sundarbans throughout the year, especially during the Monsoon seasons – In this Post Yass Phase after overcoming the unstable situations we started working in full swing for Cleaning the Ponds filled with saline water due to floods, bleaching powder cleansing to maintain proper hygienic conditions of the local areas, helping the local villagers to rebuild their lost mud houses and places of shelter, etc.

In the meantime, we started our Mangrove Plantation projects in many places along the banks of River Rai Mongol and River Kalagachi of Sundarbans with a visionary master plan to restore the lost Mangrove barriers which acted as a great protective shield for the islands of the Sundarbans against all such Natural odds like Cyclones, hurricanes, and River Bank erosion, etc. – in the first phase we planted 2200 mangrove saplings along the bank of River Kalagachi adjacent to Village Atapur of the Sandeshkhali Block II and thereon our Journey began ….. To preserve the Mangroves and to aid our Mangrove Plantation Projects we began our next journey by setting up our very own Mangrove Nursery, having its title the – “ Maa Nursery” which includes a variety of healthy saplings of various species of Mangroves namely – Sundari, Kakra, Goran, Gorjon, Baine, Keora, golpata, etc. – This nursery is open to all those who wish to visit and gain knowledge about Mangroves of The Sundarbans for their scholastic studies or research projects or for school or college visits and with the aid of various funding from other peer groups, own resources and other NGO’s we aim to plant almost 1 lack Mangroves per year throughout the Sundarbans – Presently we are having two branches of our “ Maa Nursery “ one at Village Shitalia of Sandeshkhali Block II and another at Village Paklhirala of the Gosaba Block of Sundarban.

To address the need of the hour and with a visionary to bring more children under the light of proper education with an aim to gift them a better future, in 2021 we began our second center of the “ Ananda Niketan Pathshala “ at Village Pakhirala of the Gosaba Block – it began with 30 kids belonging mostly from the tribal family backgrounds of the two local villages namely Pakhirala & Jotirampur of the Gosaba Block at Sundarbans and 2 Teachers looking after their daily education and moral growth.

Keeping in mind the crisis of freshwater supplies during the harsh Summer seasons caused due to the drying up of groundwater levels and also during the flood/cyclone times when the saline River Water submerges almost every pond and tube well, we conducted several meetings with many other organizations and well-wishers and after our long and determined efforts with the help of some fundraising we were able to install a SUB MARSHAL PUM in the year 2021 at our ANANDA NIKETAN PATSHALA premises in the Village Shitalia of the Sandeshkhali Block – II to ensure a constant supply of fresh water during all times of the year, especially during the times of crisis for the public, (i.e. for all the local villagers).

At the beginning of 2022 we started the construction of our Computer Room to aid our YOUTH EMPOWERMENT program – To enable proper skill development for the Youth and make them career ready in terms of Computer Knowledge and Spoken English this YOUTH EMPOWERMENT project was initiated.

On the 12th day of March 2022, we inaugurated our third center of ANANDA NIKETAN PATHSHALA at Village Parghumti of Hemnagar ( Hingalganj Block ) – it began with the enrolment of 30 Students of the primary section, who mainly belongs from the SC, ST & OBC families and whose parents are mostly migrant workers or daily wage labors and seasonal agricultural workers, etc. – 2 lady teachers of the local village is entrusted with the responsibility of this Branch and we also inaugurated our 4th branch at Village-Kalidaspur of Chhoto Mollakhali Island.