“Everyone Deserves to Be With Family”: Sonu Sood Plays a Hero’s Role, Arranges Buses for Migrants

Bollywood celebrities are posting images from their houses and farmhouses, trying separately to stay relevant during the pandemic. Many have made donations and many more have participated in online concerts to raise funds against our ongoing fight against Covdi-19. Actor Sonu Sood has gone the extra mile.

Sood, who had earlier donated over 1,500 PPE kits to doctors in Punjab, opened up his Mumbai hotel for accommodation of medical staff, and fed thousands of underprivileged kids in Bhiwandi, has stepped up once again to help stranded migrants by arranging 10 buses and helping 350 of them to travel from Maharashtra to Karnataka after obtaining permission from both the state governments.

“The Maharashtra government officials were very helpful in terms of organising the paperwork and a special mention to the Karnataka government for welcoming the migrants back home. It was really moving for me to watch these migrants walking on roads including the little kids and old parents. I shall continue doing the same for other states as well to the best of my abilities,” Sonu said in a statement.

 

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Sonu Sood & Neeti Goel Lead the way as they arrange ten buses to send migrant labors to their villages. The buses left from thane today. We thank the Maharashtra & Karnataka government to make this happen by giving permission to let these migrants reach their respective villages. #CoVid19 #monday #love #CoronaWarriors #IndiaFightsCorona #manavmanglani

A post shared by Manav Manglani (@manav.manglani) on May 11, 2020 at 8:37am PDT

In a video posted online, one can see Sonu Sood waving at the migrants as bus after bus departs with all the passengers waving back at him. “They were waving at me till I could see the bus, it made me very happy,” said the actor.

@SonuSood becomes the first Bollywood celeb who organized multiple transport buses for hundreds of migrants stuck in Mumbai amid nationwide lockdown to help them head home and unite with their families in this difficult hour of coronavirus. #IndiaFightsCoronavirus pic.twitter.com/DzHfAgVSlW

— Pinkvilla (@pinkvilla) May 11, 2020

In an interview, Sood explained that the process was a bit tedious but with help from both governments, it all worked out fine. He also pointed out that they were successful in stopping some migrants from walking on highways and convincing them that travel will be arranged soon. “Everyone Indian deserves to be with his family. Seeing families walk endlessly back to their homes gave me sleepless nights,” he added.

Sood also spoke about migrants desperately wanting to go from Thane to Nashik and how the system had failed them. They tried to convince them to stay for a day or two but could not convince them. What he did instead was hand them food packets so that they don’t go hungry.

WATCH | “Seeing families walk endlessly back to their homes gave me sleepless nights”: Actor Sonu Sood to NDTV’s @rohitkhilnani on his initiative to send 350 migrants back home.#CoronavirusLockdown pic.twitter.com/gyE1P8zDCb

— NDTV Videos (@ndtvvideos) May 11, 2020

Sood’s gestures won a lot of applause from his colleagues in Bollywood as well as the larger online community.

Proud of my friend @SonuSood .. organising n sponsoring buses to take migrants back to their homes. Pandemic times also show us who we should continue being friends with ♥️ pic.twitter.com/Y5ykPzfhB8

— Farah Khan (@TheFarahKhan) May 12, 2020

Thanks ❤️ #SonuSood pic.twitter.com/aIyjSlH6Cv

— Tabassum Ali (تبسم علی) (@AnnieAli786) May 11, 2020

The actor also stated that he is also trying to get migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand to get to villages by making more such arrangements.