Players For Humanity, a consortium of former and current Bengal players, have decided to come forward and raise funds to support the cyclone affected regions of West Bengal.
A super cyclone named ‘Amphan’ had hit the Eastern Indian states of West Bengal and Odisha on May 20. It caused large scale damage in West Bengal. 85 people have died in the state while millions of people have seen their houses flattened.
Former India international goalkeeper and a member of the Players for Humanity group, Sandip Nandy spoke about their initiative.
“We wanted to do something during these troubled times. There is a huge crisis in West Bengal due to the Cyclone so we thought of providing some help. We are trying to raise as much funds as possible to help the state. All the players will share this on their respective social media pages and we will urge everyone to contribute to our cause.”
As many as 40 footballers started the Players For Humanity group in 2019.
Current players like Pritam Kotal, Prabir Das, Pronay Halder, Mohammed Rafique, Subhashish Bose, Subrata Paul and Arindam Bhattacharya are all part of this cause. Former players like Denson Devadas, Syed Rahim Nabi, Mehtab Hossain and Deepak Mondal too are an integral member of this charitable cause.
"The Sundarbans area has been the worst affected. We would like to extend help in the area. Depending on the amount of money we raise, we will decide the scale of work that will be undertaken. We want to make a difference to those who have been affected," stated Kotal.
Their first project was raising funds for former Mohun Bagan player Sanjay Parte who was suffering from blood cancer.
They had also organised for a fundraiser to support the family of deceased footballer Dhanarajan who had passed away due to cardiac arrest on December 29, 2019.
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