DNA

Salman Khan, Farhan Akhtar and  Rahul Bose join hands to reach out to the Ahmedabad blast victims

Mumbai, Aug 5: In an exemplary show of empathy, prominent members of the Mumbai film industry have joined hands to garner support for the victims of the recent Ahmedabad bomb blasts.

“There are several prominent members in Bollywood who have joined me in my effort to collect funds for the treatment of people injured in the bomb blasts. Salman Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar and Rahul Bose are just some of the people who have already pledged their support,” says social worker Teesta Setalvad.

She reveals that several other film personalities too have expressed their desire to reach out, but are yet to pitch in with the money. Unwilling to divulge any more names, Setalvad says that she along with Rahul Bose plan to deliver the money personally to the victims within two weeks.

“We have already identified people who are finding it hard to continue their treatment and we will ensure that they get well soon. Trust me, they are in real need of help and we need to act very fast,” she adds.

Considering the fact that the Narendra Modi government has already announced a compensation of Rs five lakh for each of the blast victims, isn’t this effort a politically sensitive one? “I know that Gujarat is a very politically-sensitive zone. Our effort is in no way to tell the government that they are not doing enough for the blast victims. At the same time, I feel there are a lot of people in Ahmedabad who still can’t afford the costs of their treatment and it is our duty to get them back on their feet. I decided to lead from the front because I feel nothing is enough,” says Rahul, who recently met up with the victims.

“We went around visiting hospitals where the blast victims are undergoing treatment and were shocked to see that some of them are actually starving. I told myself, ‘somebody needs to flag it off (the relief operations)’. We went around collecting data about these people. They are actually daily wage earners and mostly live a hand-to-mouth existence. They are ones who we tend forget about too fast,” Rahul adds.

Though the exact figure of the money donated so far is not available, the two are hoping that enough will be collected to clear the hospital bills of at least a 100 blast victims, if not more.