Eleven municipality workers from Kerala jointly bagged the Rs10 crore ($1.6 million) jackpot of the state government’s 2023 Monsoon Bumper lottery on Monday.
The women, who usually get Rs250 a day for collecting non-biodegradable waste from households in Parappanangadi town in Malappuram district, pooled Rs25 each to buy the Rs250 ticket in June. Two of them bought one share jointly, putting in Rs12.5 each.
All the women – youngest in the 20s and oldest in the 70s – work with Haritha Karma Sena, which collects non-biodegradable waste from households and establishments, and then sends it to shredding units for recycling.
This is the fourth time the group bought the bumper lottery ticket. They won Rs1,000 in the Onam bumper.
Even as private lotteries are banned in Kerala, the government runs its high-publicity programme Kerala State Lotteries – the first of its kind in India.
According to Newsminute, the women do not intend to quit their jobs and will still work to keep Parappanangadi clean. They are supposed to get around Rs63.6 lakh each, after taxes.
“The 11 civic workers are among the most hardworking and dedicated teams working here, and we are happy that they won the lottery,” said Parappanangadi Municipality chairman A Usman.
“Despite winning the lottery, they said that they would not stop working – a mark of their dedication.”
The women will instead use the lottery money to pay off their debts, build homes and put their children through education.
“I am still in disbelief,” said 49-year-old winner Radha.
“It’s unbelievable. We had to check with multiple people to be sure that we won and still we couldn’t believe it. We all come from very poor families with lots of debt and liabilities.”
Another winner, 72-year-old Kuttimalu, told BBC that she did not have enough money to contribute Rs25 towards the ticket, but someone else in the group had agreed to split one share with her.
“We agreed we would get an equal share if we won anything,” said Ms Kuttimalu. “We didn’t expect to win such a huge amount of money.”
Ms Cherumannil Baby, 62, plans to replace her house which was washed away in the devastating floods that hit Kerala in 2018, BBC reported.
For Ms K Bindu, 50, the win was bittersweet. Last year, she lost her husband to kidney failure, as the family could not afford a transplant for him. He had often bought lottery tickets in the hope of funding his treatment.
Ms Bindu will use her winnings on her 15-year-old daughter’s education.
Another winner, Ms Leela, 56, said she would spend the money on surgery her daughter needs.
Indo-Asian News Service
