In the wake of the growing Coronavirus Pandemic in the country, various organisations looking after the welfare of the entertainment industry took the decision to halt the shooting of their movies, shows, OTT projects and ads among others. And the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has gone a step ahead and decided to provide ration for those workers who work daily wage on the sets of shoots. The call to halt the shoots was taken only a few days back and since it was a last-minute decision, the association has pledged to help the workers. Prithviraj: Karni Sena Halts Akshay Kumar's Film's Shoot, Demands Assurance That Historic Facts Won't Be Tampered.

Starting Sunday, a week-long drive will start with 15 kilos of basic food necessities, being distributed amongst the workers. A report in Mid day read that junior artistes, crew members can avail their share of ration and monthly supplies at Filmistan Studios in Goregaon. President BN Tiwari elaborated and told Mid day, "We will distribute sacks of 15 kilos each that will contain five kilos of rice, two kilos dal, five kilos atta, some masala and other non-perishable items. For now, the plan is to run this drive for a week."

Ensuring that plans are in place to provide for almost 10,000 workers, Tiwari went on to say, "Everyone should not land up on Sunday fearing that we will run out of supplies. We are also in talks with the state government, seeking help in crowd management." Coronavirus Outbreak: Mumbai’s Film City Stops Shooting, Impact On The Entertainment Industry.

Tiwari also went on to reveal the identity of producers and directors who came forward to lend a helping hand. "BP Singh, the creator of CID, has donated a couple of lakhs for this initiative. Shashi Sumeet Productions too have sent us money for the supplies. We have to manoeuvre our way through the grim times."

Ashoke Pandit, the chief advisor to the FWICE and the head of IFTDA, told Bombay Times, "This is an important step to help out our workers who survive on daily wages. Their bread and butter have been impacted hugely because of the temporary shutdown. So, we will be distributing basic things like rice, dals and atta to the workers who need it. To avoid a mass congregation, we will be doing the activity for an entire week, throughout the day, in a staggered manner. So, on a said day, we may not have workers from more than two associations coming in. We also have doctors and an ambulance on stand-by throughout the week at the venue, so if someone seems unwell, we can immediately send them to a medical facility."

Check Out Ashoke Pandit's Tweet Below:

"Among those who came forward right away to support were producers Hemant Ruprell and Ranjeet Thakur, and filmmakers Rohit Shetty, Sajid Nadiadwala, Aanand L Rai, David Dhawan. Apart from them, others from the industry like Javed Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Madhur Bhandarkar and Anupam Kher have also stepped forward to assist the federation in this exercise. We are grateful to them." he told the daily.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 19, 2020 04:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).