Mumbai: At a Navratrotsav gathering, BJP MLA Atul Bhatkalkar's Akurli Seva Foundation gave ₹83 lakh for drought-hit farmers.
The cheque was handed to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund on Monday night (19 October) at Lal Mati Maidan in Ashok Nagar, in the presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The fund is used for relief to drought-hit farmers.
The money was raised in the Kandivali East constituency during Navratrotsav. It marked an effort to collect funds for social work around the festival.
Fadnavis thanked the donors who had come forward and appealed for contributions to the relief fund for drought-hit farmers.
He assured full cooperation from the state government for public-interest development work, saying Bhatkalkar had got several such works done in his constituency.
Bhatkalkar said many development projects in the constituency had picked up pace with the chief minister's backing.
The money raised during Navratrotsav is meant for farm families in drought-hit areas. Coming in the middle of the state's drought, it marked an effort to raise help through a party event.
Whether more such contributions reach the relief fund will be clear in the coming days.