Bollywood’s Salman Khan donates to industry workers before PM fund

Bollywood actor Salman Khan has decided to extend help to 25,000-odd daily wage workers of the film industry whose lives have been affected by the ongoing national lockdown that has brought all filming activity to a grinding halt.

Khan’s contribution will aid the artistes of Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), said the body’s president BN Tiwari.

“After we approached Salman Khan, he asked us to give him a count of the most affected workers from our association and we told him there were 25,000 such artistes. He has decided to contribute for them. We will be sending him the list in the evening,” said Tiwari, according to a report in the Indian Express daily.

The website quotes Tiwari as being critical of filmstars who have been making big donations to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES) instead of helping the industry workers who are left with no income during the lockdown in India.

“It’s only going to get worse. People are preparing only for 21-day lockdown but we have five lakh (500,000) workers. If this extends for a month or two, we will need help from everyone. There are a thousand people ready to fund in the PM-CARES fund but the industry, which you belong to, you should donate there first. You are giving Rs25 crore (Rs250 million) to the PM-Cares fund to come in the good books of the Prime Minister but there’s not been a single phone call yet to make any donation for the federation workers,” said Tiwari, hinting at Akshay Kumar’s donation, while adding Khan has asked for a complete list of daily wage workers with their account numbers, because he wishes to directly transfer funds to each worker.