After Nana Patekar, actor Akshay Kumar extends helping hand to drought-hit farmers

Mumbai, Sept 16: Taking inspiration from actor Nana Patekar, yet another Bollywood star has extended helping hand to drought hit farmers of Maharashtra. Super star Akshay Kumar has earmarked Rs 90 lakhs for the noble cause.

Akshay Kumar has taken this step amidst media reports that farmers are ending their lives because of acute agrarian crisis in different parts of the State. Situation is worst in Marathwada region where around 700 farmers did suicide in recent days.

On Tuesday, actor took up the cause and distributed Rs. 50,000 to each of the 30 widows in Beed district in Marathwada. These widows are battling with financial crisis after their husband took extreme step.

Reportedly the actor was not present at the event and was managed by his representative Vedant Bali and Beed districts' Inspector General of Police Vishwas Nangre Patil.

Nangre Patil was quoted by NDTV as saying, "Akshay had invited me and during the interval, I spoke to him about the drought in Marathwada and the plight of farmers. I showed him a video of how actors Nana Patekar and Makrand Anaspure were helping farmers. So that's when he expressed his desire to help but he wanted to do it discreetly and silently".

Earlier, Nana Patekar along with actor Makrand Anaspure had decided to contribute for the cause. They distributed cheques of financial aid to around 113 families of farmers in Latur and Osmanabad districts of Marathwada. Patekar has also founded a dedicated organisation named 'Naam Foundation' for the cause.

"This (drought) is a natural calamity. I don't know whether my wish (of these leaders coming together) will be fulfilled or not. The drought is transient and it cannot be tackled by one party alone. Many people have helped (farmers) in their own ways, we are just postmen", the actor had said.

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