Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and actor Aamir Khan during the press conference organised at Sahyadri Guest house, on Wednesday. (Photo: Debasish Dey)
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and actor Aamir Khan during the press conference organised at Sahyadri Guest house, on Wednesday. (Photo: Debasish Dey)
Following the controversy over his alleged removal as brand ambassador for the government of India’s Swachh Bharat mission, actor Aamir Khan is back to partner with the BJP-led Maharashtra government to solve water crisis in Maharashtra.
Mr Khan, along with the team of his TV show Satyamev Jayate has formed Paani Foundation, which will work in association with the state government to solve the water crisis. The announcement for this was made by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in the presence of the actor on Wednesday.
“When we did the Satyamev Jayate series, we saw the on ground results which were very strong. And we didn’t work on the ground then. We thought we should take a step forward and focus on one topic till we solve it. Satyajit Bhatkal (director of the show) and I chose water because it’s very important and (we chose) Maharashtra because we were born here. We thought we should begin with this,” Aamir told reporters.
The actor announced the Satyamev Jayate Water Cup, which will work for Maharashtra’s Jal Yukt Shivar scheme — aimed at making state villages drought-free in five years through water conservation programmes. Mr Khan said he would not be the only face of the initiative and planned to rope in Marathi celebrities.
“We are requesting lots of Marathi celebrities, sports people, actors etc to become mentors and take over villages. Just to encourage people.... We want this to become a movement where everybody gets involved. I won’t be the only face,” he said.
The first edition of the cup will be restricted to three districts and within those districts, one taluka each. From western Maharashtra, it will be Koregaon Taluka (Satara), from Vidarbha, it will be Warud Taluka in Amravati district and Ambajogai Taluka from Beed district, Marathwada.
The aim is to communicate and create awareness among people at the grassroot level about water conservation and watershed management. Mr Khan said while he would be be involved with the initiative at every stage, would still continue acting in films in that period.
The actor also said he would speak to actor Nana Patekar and get him on board for the issue as the actor has already been working towards water conservation for the last one year. “I am going to meet him today... I will definitely talk to him about it. He is already doing great work. All of us have seen the kind of work he has done. Like Nana, many people should come forward to contribute to the cause. He had started this one year ago, it is wonderful that he showed sensitivity towards such an important issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, clarifying that reports about Aamir being appointed as brand ambassador were rumours, the CM said that the actor himself was not comfortable with the title.
“When Aamir first told me about his desire to work towards improving water conservation in Maharashtra, he made it clear that he wasn’t interested in becoming brand ambassador of the programme,” Mr Fadnavis said. Industrialists Kumar Mangalam Birla, Rajiv Bajaj and Amit Kalyani, filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani were present at the press conference.
