BENGALURU: While the city is under lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many city celebrities have taken a break from the comfort of their home to volunteer and help others, including their neighbourhood four-legged furry friends. With the help of volunteers, actor Samyukta Hornad is feeding strays in her area – Bengaluru South. “I started this just for my love for dogs. But when others in my locality were also feeding strays, the police asked them to go indoors and follow safety measures,” she says.However, seeing her enthusiasm, Hornad was asked by Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya to head a campaign to feed strays –Corona Task for South Bangalore Streeties. “People don’t understand other issues that will arise from stray dogs not being fed.
They will starve to death. It can lead to various infections or may even lead to a plague-like situation,” says Hornad, adding that anyone can volunteer for this cause. “Even if one is not comfortable stepping out to feed strays, they can donate funds for the cause. For now, there are 40 volunteers working for this campaign and are allotted to different areas of South Bengaluru to feed dogs,”she adds. Meanwhile, Sandalwood actor Aindrita Ray, who time and again, shows her love for dogs – recently,
she went out of her way to save an injured pup and eventually adopted it – has come forward to help strays. In a video which went viral , she says, “Let’s not forget about our four-legged friends in our neighbourhood. With temperatures rising this summer and the current lockdown situation, there’s little food and water for them. When you step out for groceries, please leave some for the voiceless.” Being familiar with the dangers of stepping out at this point, Ray has been taking precautions, including wearing a mask.
Dr C Vinod Hayagriv, managing director, C Krishniah Chetty Group of Jewellers, has been donning the role of a traffic warden to emphasise the importance of staying indoors to people. “We are educating those providing essential services to operate in a more disciplined manner, implement distancing, and to put in place queue systems in front of their shops. In addition, we have been working on promoting cleanliness, hygiene, disinfecting frequently on a daily basis, wearing masks when outside and not venturing out unless it is to essential to buy food and medicines, not more than once a day,” he says, adding that over the next few days, they plan to do more rounds across East, Shivajinagar, South, West Bengaluru.
To help daily wage workers of the Kannada television and film industry, director-producer Pawan Kumar is urging his followers on social media to give whatever contribution possible. And this initiative is being supported by many prominent industry figures, including actors Diganth, Shraddha Srinath, and Dhananjay. (With inputs from Vidya Iyengar)