Students of various colleges in Coimbatore attempted a Guinness world record for the most number of people standing in the shape of a palm, in support of the girl child, at the CODISSIA grounds on Sunday.

As many as 3500 students participated in the fundraiser programme jointly organized by the Karka Educational Trust and Rotaract Club of Coimbatore Unity.

S. Ibin, the President of Rotaract Club of Coimbatore Unity said that the event was organized in order to support 100 girls in their education and safety. “About 850 Indian women are killed, raped and harassed everyday according to statistics. Education is also denied to many little girls for various reasons including lack of money. In order to help them, we had collected Rs.100 from each participant. We will give the money to the education expenses of 100 girls in Coimbatore. A total of 4500 students have registered for the event,” he added.

There was a heated argument between the organizers and the police when the latter refused to permit a drone from taking aerial shots of the event. Police clarified that the organizers did not obtain prior permission from the airport authorities to fly the drone above 50 metres. Since the grounds were very close to the airport, this was crucial. The drone idea was dropped.