After drought, Sachin to bat for basic amenities of slum dwellers

Recently, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar and PepsiCo are jointly putting together a plan to help Maharashtra government tackle the drought in Marathwada region.

Now, sources claim that the batting maestro is also mulling over several plans to find long-term solutions to the problems related to health issues and lack of basic amenities faced by slum dwellers.

Sachin, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, held a meeting with senior officials from the civic body after writing a letter to them. BMC chief Ajoy Mehta, NGO Apanalaya and Pyxera Global were present in order to discuss the problems faced by slum dwellers residing near Deonar dumping ground.

Apanalaya, an NGO founded by Tendulkar’s mother-in-law Anabelle Mehta, works with on community development related issues around Deonar and Shivaji Nagar.

During the joint meeting, they discussed solution framework proposed by Pyxera Global. They also suggested an approach whereby ragpickers need to be re-designated as ‘waste processors’ for the challenging work they do under dire circumstances.

Tendulkar has also reportedly said in the meeting that Mumbai among all metropolitan cities should take the lead in resolving the garbage-dumping problem. He has expressed his full support to this cause as the Swachh Bharat ambassador and also cited the Prime Minister’s vision of a clean India in the near future.