BCCI President Sourav Ganguly pledges to donate rice worth Rs 50 lakh amid COVID-19 pandemic

On Tuesday, 24 March, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the country and informed the citizens of an upcoming lockdown on the nation amid growing fears of the coronavirus pandemic. As India prepares itself for this nation-wide 21-day lockdown, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has stepped forward to help the people in need with a grand gesture.

The former Indian captain and the Cricket Association of Bengal are set to donate rice worth up to ₹50L to those in need during this 21-day lockdown along with Lal Baba Rice. A statement released by the company read,

“Hope this initiative of Ganguly would encourage other citizens of the state to take up similar initiatives to serve the people of our state.”

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Ganguly also posted a video on his Twitter feed on Tuesday urging the citizens to be sensible about the precautions needed amid coronavirus fears. The 47-year-old said,

“To my fellow countrymen and citizens around the world. These are very testing times in our lives but we will fight it. Listen to what every state government says... listen to what every health department says... listen to the directives of the central government. It’s important to stay at home... isolation is very very important.”

He continued,

“Be safe and be healthy but most importantly be sensible. Don’t try out things and don’t think nothing is going to happen to you. When it comes we will have no where to go.”

Ganguly confirmed a just over a week ago that they are considering the possibility of shortening the IPL, which was initially set to begin on March 29. However, amid fears of the virus outbreak, it has been pushed to April 15. The total number of people infected all over the world has surpassed over 400,000, leading to sad deaths over 15,000 people.