The BCCI on Saturday announced that they will contribute Rs 51 crore to the Prime Ministers Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund to fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic. While speaking to IANS, a BCCI official said that Secretary Jay Shah spoke to the other office-bearers and also with the state associations on how can they help the country in this crunch situation.
“BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, honorary Secretary Jay Shah and Office Bearers of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) along with the affiliated state associations on Saturday announced a donation of Rs 51 crore to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES Fund) to contribute towards strengthening the nation’s disaster management capacities and encourage research to combat COVID-19 and protect Indian citizens,” the statement read.
“The outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-1) is first and foremost a public health emergency and the BCCI has a firm resolve that the nation gets all possible help to cope with the testing times. The BCCI will contribute to Hon’ble Prime Minister’s initiative which is a dedicated national fund (PM-CARES Fund) with the primary objective of dealing with emergency or distress situations,” it further added.
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“The Board along with its state associations will continue to monitor and work closely with the Government of India, state governments and other state regulatory bodies and are committed to providing support to the state machinery in the face of adversity,” the BCCI shared in the release.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown in the country to fight against the coronavirus pandemic. He said that isolation or staying home is an essential step to fight coronavirus. He also added that saving lives is priority now. He also said that if the nation doesn’t follow this lockdown for the coming 21 days, India will go back 21 years and several families will be devastated as well.
