Yash Raj Films announced that they will be vaccinating daily workers of the Hindi film industry.
The production house, in a letter to the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) on May 1, stated they have urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to allow them to purchase 60,000 Covid-19 vaccines to vaccinate 30,000 employees of the industry.
In the letter, senior vice president of Yash Raj Films Akshaye Widhani wrote, “With the film industry going through an unprecedented time, there is an urgent need to restart at the earliest so that thousands of workers can start earning their livelihood again and protect their families. Yash Raj Films, through The Yash Chopra Foundation, would like to offer its support in this regard.”
The letter added that the foundation will bear all other costs associated with vaccinating the workers, such as “raising awareness, transportation of workers and setting up of all the required infrastructure for the immunisation programme”.
In response, FWICE wrote to Thackeray urging him to provide the vaccines for 30,000 members. Highlighting the country’s deteriorating economy, the letter said the vaccination would help the Hindi film industry get back up on its feet. “Once the vaccination is done, our members can resume their respective work and the industry may continue to function without any fear,” the letter said.
The FWICE has a total of 2.5 lakh registered workers.
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Maharashtra’s daily Covid-19 cases dropped below 50,000 to 48,621 on Monday while India recorded over 3.57 lakh new covid-19 cases in the 24 hours. Last month, the Maharashtra government ordered all film and television shootings to be suspended to reduce the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
The industry also saw the postponement of various films like Toofan, Chehre, Haathi Mere Saathi, and more while several Hindi actors like Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Guahar Khan, Vicky Kaushal, Kartik Aaryan recently contracted the virus.