Keen to provide succour to people reeling under drought in Maharashtra, popular film actor Amitabh Bachchan has adopted Kumthe village in Sangli district, which till recently was famous for its quality grapes.
The village, with a population of around 10,000 falls in Tasgaon taluka, the hometown of state Home Minister R R Patil.
"We had approached Amitabh to adopt the village and to bear all the expenses for providing some drought relief measures, to which he readily agreed," Kranti Shah, director of Yuvak Biradari, a youth forum, which has undertaken a drought-relief project, told PTI in Mumbai on Friday.
The estimated expenses of the relief measures would be over Rs 200,000.
As part of the project, a drought relief centre would become operational from May 11. It would enroll all the children and senior citizens of the village, which has been facing severe drought for the past several months, and provide them free mid-day meals.
The children would also be engaged for a period of two to three hours in educational activities while the senior citizens would be provided care at the centre.
It would also enroll young females and provide them training to work as volunteers. They would be paid a remuneration, which could be used for their educational pursuits.
The centre, through its relief measures hopes to provide succor to children and senior citizens numbering over 500.
Amitabh Bachchan is expected to visit the village once the monsoon sets in.
"We hope more families and celebrities would come forward to adopt villages like Amitabh did. There are several villages, which need to be adopted. If people come forward, it would be of immense relief to those suffering from hunger, thirst and unfavourable climatic conditions," Shah said.
Yuvak Biradari would also initiate a similar project at Upalavi village, a few kilometers from Mumbai.
Actress Jaya Bachchan is president of the organisation, former cricketer Ajit Wadekar is its vice-president and journalist Kumar Ketkar its chairperson.