COVID-19 facility in Mumbai, backed by Amitabh Bachchan, starts operations
A COVID-19 care center with a 25-bed capacity and oxygen availability helped set up by megastar Amitabh Bachchan, began operations in Mumbai on Tuesday, filmmaker Anand Pandit said. According to Pandit, Bachchan provided the Juhu-based Ritambhara Vishva Vidyapeeth facility with the necessary equipment and infrastructure. "After a trial run, the center was up and running by 10 am on Tuesday, May 18," Pandit stated.
BMC has granted all necessary permissions: Pandit
"Mr. Bachchan has donated the equipment and infrastructure for the facility and all necessary permissions have been granted by the BMC," Pandit, who has collaborated with Bachchan on the thriller Chehre, stated. In his blog post, dated May 16, Bachchan had said the 25-bed center should be up and running by Tuesday taking into account the after-effects of Cyclone Tauktae.
Bachchan has donated Rs. 15cr in India's fight against COVID-19
Pandit, who has already helped set up a facility in Dadar along with superstar Ajay Devgn, is scouting locations to set up another facility in suburban Borivali. Bachchan has donated Rs. 15 crore in India's fight against COVID-19, which includes his contributions to Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur COVID-19 Care Center at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib and a diagnostic center in Delhi's Bangla Sahib Gurudwara.
Cyclone Tauktae flooded Bachchan's Juhu office 'Janak'
He has also made arrangements for oxygen concentrators from Poland, donated three detection machines to Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital, and is raising two children who have lost their parents to the virus at a Hyderabad-based orphanage. Meanwhile, in a blog post on Monday night, the screen icon informed that his office Janak in suburban Juhu was flooded after Cyclone Tauktae hit Mumbai last night.
The veteran actor also shared his wardrobe with the staff
"There is an eerie silence in the midst of the Cyclone... Flooding in the vulnerable Janak Office, impromptu plastic cover sheets still in prep for the heavy Monsoon rain, ripped apart ... sheds and shelters for some staff blown away," he wrote. Bachchan said he shared his wardrobe with the staff whose uniforms were drenched as they repaired the office after the incessant rains.
Bachchan appreciated his staff's dedication in current conditions
"Staff simply amazing in such conditions .. their uniforms wet and dripping but they continue .. gave them dress changes urgently in this strife, from my own wardrobe and now they proudly move about as Chelsea and Jaipur Pink Panther supporters," the actor said.
