Unable to distribute groceries so far due to lockdown, FWICE kicks off the door-to-door supply of essentials for daily-wage workers; seeks financial aid from Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan to continue services
Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; April 4, 2020)

Despite their best intentions, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) — that had announced a week-long campaign of distribution of groceries and other essentials to daily-wage workers from March 22 — had been unable to fulfill their promise due to the Coronavirus lockdown. In what comes as a ray of hope to those hit hardest by the shutdown of the industry, the organisation began a door-to-door supply of food kits to their employees on Thursday.

FWICE president Birendra Nath Tiwari tells mid-day, "We couldn't wait any longer because the situation is getting bleaker with every passing day. Hence, we decided to distribute the ration kits among the junior artistes by going door-to-door." With several cine bodies — including the Cine Dancers' Association, and Cine Costume, Make-up Artist & Hairdressers' Association — coming under its umbrella, the FWICE handles almost two lakh daily wagers. In their first step, they covered the Andheri-Jogeshwari belt in Mumbai and distributed 500 kits, each containing about 15 days' food for a family, including rice, dal, atta and spices.

Stating that the door-to-door service is not feasible every day, Tiwari reveals that yesterday, they asked some junior artistes to collect their kits from the designated venues. "We dropped the groceries at the offices of the different associations in the morning. We then allotted different time slots to the workers so that they could come and collect it from their respective associations."

On Thursday, Shah Rukh Khan, besides donating to the PM-CARES Fund, announced a series of initiatives to combat the crisis. Among them was the superstar-backed Meer Foundation that vowed to provide essentials to 2,500 daily wagers in Delhi. Tiwari says he has also shot off a letter to Khan, to highlight the plight of those based in Mumbai. "We are grateful to Rohit Shetty, Ajay Devgn and Salman Khan for standing by us. We have sent a letter to Shah Rukh Khan's manager and Hrithik Roshan, seeking financial help."


FWICE members line up the food kits for delivery