Akshay’s dream comes true with Bharat Ke Veer

Earlier this month, Akshay Kumar launched a website, Bharat Ke Veer, with help from the government. It aimed to help people donate money directly to the families of martyred armed forces personnel. Now, reports show that within a few hours of 25 Central Reserve Paramilitary Force (CRPF) soldiers being martyred in a Naxalite ambush in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district (on April 24), donations came in huge numbers for the deceased soldiers’ families. “It’s heartwarming to see such a great response from people,” says an insider. Apparently, within 15 days of the launch of the website, over 4.5 lakh people visited the portal. “It’s great that those who want to make a donation have a platform. In fact, it’s a one-of-its-kind system in the world,” says the insider.

Akshay became “extremely emotional” seeing the response. “It has been Akshay’s life-long dream to do whatever he can for jawans. He saw this dream (of having a platform for people to make donations) about four months back and he feels enthused to see such a warm response and his dream becoming true,” says the insider.

During the launch of the website, Akshay had said: “Everybody wants to connect to people in uniform in their pain. It was a small dream. Our government really helped us. I want to thank everybody... My father (the late Hari Om Bhatia) was in the Army, and I’m here as his son.”

PHOTO:YOGEN SHAH