24,200 donors help Sena set record

The Shiv Sena added another feather to its cap on Sunday. It entered the Guinness Book of World Records for collecting maximum blood in a day — 24,200 bottles — at a blood donation camp organised by the party at NSE Ground in Goregaon (East).

The Sena beat the previous record held by Dera Sacha Sauda of Sri Ganga Nagar in Punjab, who had collected blood from 17,921 donors at a camp in Bapuji village on October 10, 2004.  

After the spokesperson of the Guinness Book, Sara Wilcox, handed over a certificate of the record to Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, he declared that the party would organise a similar camp next year too. Wilcox announced that Sena was the first political party to collect blood on such a large scale. “We will be happy if more records of blood donation are established,” she said.

Uddhav, who was the first donor at the mega event, said the blood donation record was a symbol of the Maharashtrians’ unity to keep the state integrated. “Now, the state government will notice the Maharashtrians’ unity and their strong feelings to keep the state integrated,” he said. Interestingly, the blood bank that collected Thackeray’s blood was from Vidarbha. The Sena leader took this opportunity to announce the party’s opposition to a separate Vidarbha. “I have donated my blood for Vidarbha,” Uddhav said.
Also, every blood donor at the camp was handed over a certificate signed by Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. The certificate carried a message by the Sena patriarch - Thanks for giving your blood to keep Maharashtra integrated.

Shiv Sena had set a target of 25,000 bottles, but ended up collecting 24,200 blood bottles. The Guinness record certificate, however, mentioned only 22,107 bottles of blood as the certificate was given before the final count, party officials said, adding that the count will increase.

“We mobilised workers not only in Mumbai but from Thane, Pune and Nashik to make the camp a success. Workers from Sangali also came to donate their blood. We could not have set a record without their support,” a Sainik said.

But many women, who had turned up at the camp, returned without donating blood because of inadequate haemoglobin in their blood. “We will organise a health check-up camp for these women soon,” Uddhav said.

The camp, which was conducted professionally in an air-conditioned tent, had more than 70 blood banks collecting blood. The collected blood bottles were immediately dispatched to the remote areas of the state. Shiv Sena even booked flight tickets to Aurangabad and Nagpur for quickly dispatching the collected blood.