TUMAKURU: Kannada actor Chetan Kumar of ‘Aa Dinagalu’ fame, is on a search for communities which are not visible, in a bid to reach out to them with relief. His newly-floated ‘Chetan Foundation’ has been handing out grocery kits and other help to people, through a network of fans. From Pavagada’s ‘Shillekyata’ community to Tiptur’s transgenders to Bengaluru’s cemetery workers, the foundation has been sending ration kits to those whose earnings have dried up due to the lockdown. The transgender community, in particular, is all praise for Chetan for his humanitarian gesture.
The actor has also written to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to regularise the services of around 300 cemetery workers in Bengaluru, who have no security to fall back on. “Please give them immediate medical assistance in terms of vaccines, insurance, beds and payments,” the actor insisted. He claimed to have been in touch with Social Welfare Minister B Srirmulu on this issue, and is following it up.The actor was shocked that the Koraga community of Udupi was even now victims of ‘ajjalu paddhati’, a practice in which a section of caste Hindus forces them to eat nails and hair.
This marginalised community also got grocery kits, with the actor’s fans, Jagadish Gangolly and Vajarang, reaching out to them. “I am planning to extend medical help to the needy in future, as my family is already running a cancer hospital in Hebbal, in Mysuru,” he said.
Responding to a hypothetical question popped at him on him as CM, he smiled, “If I become the CM, the top priority will be redistribution of wealth. And it starts with me.”