india.com : Jun 10, 2020, 05:24 PM
Bollywood Desk: After Sonu Sood’s outstanding effort to help migrant workers go back to their home towns, several other Bollywood celebrities have been pitching in to help workers. Days after sending migrants back home to Uttar Pradesh via bus, megastar Amitabh Bachchan has now arranged six flights for 1000 workers so that they can reach home safely – two each to Gorakhpur, Allahabad and Varanasi.According to a report in Times of India, first, a train was arranged for the migrant workers but due to technical reasons, Amitabh Bachchan opted for flights. Rajesh Yadav, managing director of Amitabh Bachchan Corp Ltd said, “Bachchan saheb asked me to arrange chartered flights for the migrants as he did not want them to lose hope after being told they would be sent home.”The first batch of 180 workers left Mumbai at 6 am via Indigo A-320 Airbus to Varanasi. A Mid Day report quoted a source as saying, “Everything is being done with utmost discretion as Bachchanji doesn’t want it to be publicised. He was moved by the plight of the migrant workers and decided to help them. He has chartered the Indigo Airlines’ Varanasi-bound flight that is scheduled to depart on Wednesday morning. The 180 migrants scheduled to travel on the morning flight have been asked to report to the airport at 6 am. The initial plan was to send them home by train, but the logistics didn’t work out.”Amitabh Bachchan is also arranging for a few more flights to ensure migrants reach their hometowns in West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and a few other states.The actor has collaborated with the Haji Ali Trust and the Pir Makhdum Trust since March in providing relief to the daily wage workers and migrant labourers in the city.