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How Rajshri Deshpande is making sure that farmers are taken care of amid Covid-19 crisis
Rajshri Deshpande is doing everything she can for her adopted-village Pandhari in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra to save them from the coronavirus pandemic.
Besides being an actor, Rajshri Deshpande is also an activist and works tirelessly for drought-affected villages in Maharashtra. So, when the Covid-19 crises broke out, the actor’s first worry was the safety of the people of her adopted-village Pandhari in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra.
The Scared Games actor shares how she immediately stopped the construction work of her school and started working with the village sarpanch to carve out a plan of action to keep villagers safe amid this pandemic.
“I wanted everyone to be isolated. The school wok is almost done, barring some furnishing work. I wanted the laborers to be safe and that’s why stalled the work. Before the lockdown, we had the whole village cleaned and sanitized. I have been working very closely with Deepak, our sarpanch and getting things done smoothly,” shares Deshpande, who is run an NGO, works in the fields of all-round rural development and community building to empower villages to self-reliance.
Unfortunately, since travelling is no longer an option, she can’t travel to the village to oversee everything, however she adds that there are members from her team who are there to take care of things.
“My village team is very strong. They are taking all the decision after consulting with me. I am constantly in touch with them. I am supporting them, long distance. We had already distributed soaps and other essentials to all the homes in the village,” the actor says.
Deshpande says that the village has tuned out to be quite self-sufficient as some people are making masks and distributing them to the whole village.
“Besides, we have enough ration and by that I mean rice and pulses because that’s the basic nee right now and they are being distributed to each home personally by some young men, so that there is no possibility of people stepping out of their homes,” she explains.
Deshpande also reveals that personally the Covid-19 crisis has hit her hard as she is stick in Kearal where she had come for a shooting of a film.
“Also, I am currently stuck in Kerala. I came here to shoot a film before the coronavirus crisis. I had a few days in hand after the shoot was over, so I decided to visit a village near Kannur. But then the lockdown was announced and I have to be here now till it ends. I decided to stay back and stay isolated as much as I can,” she says.
