Good samaritans help Mumbai groundsmen; distribute groceries, medicine

Navin Shetty and Vijay Tandel

It-s nearly three months that maidans across Mumbai have been devoid of any cricketing activity because of the Coronavirus-caused lockdown. And the worst hit are groundsmen, who have struggled to get groceries and other daily necessities. However, thanks to a few good samaritans, they have been receiving help occasionally.

On Wednesday, Chunabhatti-based corporator Vijay Tandel, 45, distributed groceries and medicines to around 50 groundsmen across Dadkar Maidan in Matunga, Shivaji Park, Oval Maidan, Cross Maidan and Azad Maidan. Each groundsman received a bag with 5kgs each of rice, wheat,

sugar, 1kg toor dal, tea powder, 1 litre oil, some vegetables and medicines including Arsenicum Album 30 and vitamin C tablets. "These groundsmen live at the maidans and have had limited or no source of income in the last few months, so I thought of supporting them," Tandel told mid-day on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, former Mumbai Cricket Association MCA managing committee member Navin Shetty, who distributed groceries to groundsmen last month, has now provided them some safety equipment. On Wednesday, he distributed around 100 face shields to groundsmen and MCA-s security staff. "MCA is my home and all its groundsmen are like my family members. These face shields can protect them as they go about doing their daily work despite this COVID-19 pandemic," said Shetty, who also distributed over 100 face shields across some of the city-s hospitals and to the police.

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