VARANASI: On the appeal of a non-profit organization, Hope, Bollywood actor Sonu Sood through his tweet on Tuesday, assured to extend help to the families of around 350 boatmen of Varanasi who are on the verge of starvation due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the floods in the Ganga.
Hope office-bearer Divyanshu Upadhyaya said that the payment to the local vendor has been done by Sood. As soon as kits containing groceries and other essentials are delivered by it, distribution among the needy will be ensured.
In his tweet, in which Sood was also tagged, Upadhyaya stated that around 350 boatmen at 84 ghats along the Ganga in Varanasi and their family members facing acute financial hardship. Their problems have only piled up due to the floods in the Ganga. He also claimed that for 15-20 days, the boatmen’s children had to sleep empty stomach.
Responding to his tweet, Sood tweeted that no one from these 350 families of Varanasi ghats will sleep empty stomach anymore, and help will reach them on the same day.
Upadhayaya said that during the lockdown, Hope had been distributing relief items among the boatmen fraternity, but the 200 relief hampers that they had, proved to be insufficient. This is why, he tweeted about the struggle of boatmen, and was successful in bringing Sood’s attention to the problem.