Mumbai: Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has shown interest in helping farmers from Marathwada. According to reports, his personal assistant met the Beed district collector to know about the gravity of the drought in the district and the help Mr Tendulkar could provide.
Beed is one of the eight districts of Marathwada region where over 1,100 farmers had committed suicide in 2015. He had sent his PA Narayan Kanhan to the Beed district, where Mr Kanhan met collector Navalkishor Ram and others to gather information about the drought situation. Mr Kanhan told reporters that Mr Tendulkar would like to work independently and prefer no political interference in projects to be undertaken on his behalf.
Sources in the district collector’s office confirmed that Mr Tendulkar, also a Rajya Sabha member, wants to extend a helping hand to the farmers. He reportedly wants to help with creation of irrigation facilities, power supply, road construction, drinking water supply etc.
Deputy collector Chandrakant Suryavanshi also confirmed that Mr Kanhan met him and the collector.
“We informed Mr Tendulkar’s PA about the gravity of the drought situation. We have also provided them the list of villages where more than 50 per cent crops got destroyed. They (Mr Tendulkar’s PA) seemed to be more interested in investing in creating infrastructure to support agriculture than providing financial aid to individual farmers. They also wanted the assurance that there would be no political interference in their work,” he said.
Veteran Bollywood star Nana Patekar and Marathi actor Makarand Anaspure are already helping the farmers in the region through their ‘Naam’ foundation. Inspired by them, Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has also pledged Rs 90 lakh that will be given to families of 180 distressed farmers who have committed suicide.
Aamir Khan’s ‘Paani Foundation’ has also associated with the state government to promote the ‘Jalyukta Shivar scheme’ which is aimed at making state villages drought-free in five years through water conservation programmes.
