Prayagraj, May 23 (IANS): In a heart-warming gesture, former students of the Allahabad University (AU) who had stayed in the Tarachand hostel, have collected money through crowd funding for the marriage of the daughter of a hostel employee.

Bhim, the hostel employee, was finding it difficult to arrange money for his daughter's wedding, when an alumnus Ajit Singh visited and learnt about the problem.

Singh decided to help him through crowd funding via social media.

"When we inquired about the family, we came to know that Bhim is preparing to take a loan for the daughter's marriage. We told him that the hostel alumnus is indebted to his services and asked him to go and prepare for the daughter's wedding and leave the rest to us," said Ajit.

The wedding is scheduled to be held on June 6 and Ajit launched a campaign on social media.

A large number of hostel alumni came forward to help. With people pouring in all day to help Bhim, an arrangement of Rs 1.5 lakh has already been made and hostel family members are still coming forward to help.

"It was Bhim who used to keep food for us when we would come late, just like a mother does in the family. How can we forget his services?" said Ajit.

So far more than 55 alumni have come forward to help Bhim. Some have helped by contributing Rs 1,100, some Rs 2,100 and some even Rs 5,100. A number of them include government officers who had stayed in the hostel during their student days.

"This is Kanyadaan on our part," Ajit added.