Akshay Kumar donates Rs 50 lakhs towards draught hit Maharashtra

Maharashtra is currently facing one of the worst droughts in recent years. Of the 43,000 villages in the state, 27,723 villages have been declared drought-hit and 54 out of the 75 medium dams have been declared dry. The state is left with mere 380 cubic metres of water for use, making life worse than hell for the farmers and their families. Following the extreme conditions, the Maharashtra government has started the Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyaan that aims at making villages drought-proof by developing water harvesting techniques including construction of ponds. And actor Akshay Kumar has come forward to wholeheartedly support the initiative. The Bollywood Khiladi donated Rs 50 lakhs towards the state-led initiative.

Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, thanked Kumar for his generous contribution.

Earlier too, the actor had donated Rs 90 lakh that would be used to help support the 180 families of farmers who had committed suicide, after the plight of the suffering farmers and their families was brought to the 'Singh Is Bliing' actor's notice by a top cop. The actor, however, had refused to comment on his charity saying it was "embarrassing."

Apart from Akshay, Nana Patekar and Aamir Khan too had come forward to help the drought-hit citizens. While Nana along with a few actors from the Marathi film industry, took up a fund-raising initiative to help the agrarian families, Aamir launched a water management and decentralization initiative, the Satyamev Jayte Water Cup and also adopted two drought-hit villages.