Eleven women working at a plastic waste segregation unit in Kerala won Rs 10 crore after they pooling in around Rs 25 each to buy a lottery ticket priced at 250.
This is a story of 11 women united in both luck and friendship. The women — all civic workers — decided to take a chance at a lottery. For that, they pooled in small amounts from their meagre incomes and bought a lottery ticket worth Rs 250. When the lottery results were declared, they found themselves hitting the jackpot, winning Rs 10 crore.
Each of the women had contributed a little less than Rs 25 to purchase the Rs 250 ticket, which turned out to be the lucky ticket.
The women, who work at a plastic waste segregation unit in Kerala’s Malappuram district, were busy with their daily routine of segregating plastic waste when the news was broken to them.
The Kerala Lottery Department made the announcement that the women who pooled money to buy the Rs 250 ticket had won the monsoon jackpot of Rs 10 crore.
As soon as the news spread, several people flocked to the municipal godown premises in Malappuram’s Parappanangadi and met and congratulated the jackpot winners, who were pictured wearing faded green overcoats and rubber gloves.
Radha, one of the winners, expressed her overwhelming feeling of happiness. “The money will be a relief and help solve some of our imminent problems,” she said.
All the women work with Haritha Karma Sena, which is involved in the collection of non-biodegradable waste from households and establishments, which is sent to shredding units for recycling. Salaries for these women working at the Parappanangadi unit range from Rs 7,500 to Rs 14,000.
Sheeja, the chairperson of Haritha Karma Sena, believes that lady luck chose the right ones this time, emphasising that these winners are dedicated workers and the breadwinners for their families. “They are living in very humble households, fighting the harsh realities of life,” she said.