Mumbai: Bollywood celebs have come forward to help the migrant workers reach their homes safely amid the COVID-19 crisis and subsequent lockdown. They have proved that they are not mere heroes on the silver screen but in real life too. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan had arranged 10 buses for 275 migrants to send them to their respective places in Uttar Pradesh. Big B, on Wednesday (June 10), booked four flights for the migrant workers so that they could go back to their hometown in Uttar Pradesh.
The ‘Paa’ actor made arrangements to send 720 migrant workers to places like Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. Four flights took off from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Wednesday morning. Each flight had a seating capacity for 180 passengers.
Rajesh Yadav, managing director of AB Corp Ltd, exclusively spoke to ABP News while seeing off the migrant workers. He said, “We had collected details of 1574 migrants, who wished to go back to their native places in UP. We were trying to send them back via train to their hometown. However, we couldn’t arrange the trains due to technical issues.”
“We decided to send the migrant workers to their home via flights, as per the instructions of Amitabh Bachchan,” Yadav further added.
The first flight from Mumbai to Gorakhpur took off at 6.10am on Wednesday. After a small interval, the other flights also flew to different cities of Uttar Pradesh.
The noble initiative is being sponsored by Amitabh Bachchan, Mahim Dargah Trust and Haji Ali Dargah Trust.
Sabir Sayed, representative of Mahim Dargah Trust, was also present at the Mumbai airport. He said, “The migrants and their family members were provided masks, sanitizers and breakfast.”
Rajesh Yadav said that Amitabh Bachchan’s company ABCL and the two trusts will continue to send the migrant workers back to their homes via flights. He added, “We are not only making arrangements for the migrant labourers from UP but also for any migrant from any corner of the country free of cost. Two flights from Mumbai to Lucknow and Allahabad respectively have been booked for tomorrow.”