Dalai Lama, Akshay Kumar extend support to cyclone victims

Bhubaneswar: Following the declaration of Rs 1,000 crore additional assistance to Odisha by the Centre on Monday, the state has now got helping hands from spiritual leaders, politicians, celebrities to cricketers.

CM Naveen Patnaik has announced to donate his one year’s salary to the chief minister’s relief fund towards the cause.

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama has donated Rs 1 crore from the Dalai Lama Trust. Actor Akshay Kumar has reportedly donated Rs 1 crore to the CM relief fund to help the cyclone-affected people. However, there is no official confirmation about it. Union minister Dhar-mendra Pradhan has also donated his one month’s salary towards the cause.

As per official sources, the government of Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have donated Rs 10 crore each while the Chhattisgarh government has donated Rs 11 crore while the Uttarakhand government donated Rs 5 crore towards the cause.

On the other hand, Bollywood celebrities like Abhishek Bachchan, Rajkumar Rao, Tiger Shroff, Disha Patani, Varun Dhawan, Boman Irani, Terence Lewis, Tamannaah Bhatia and Kapil Sharma urged their fans to donate for the cyclone-hit Odisha.

Adani Ports donated Rs 25 crore, whereas ICICI bank and IMFA Group have given Rs 10 crore and Rs 95 lakh to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.