PM calls up ex-MLA for donation to fight corona

TNN | Apr 21, 2020, 04:23 IST

Ratna Thumar is donating 51,000 in the chief minister relief fund

Rajkot: After 99-year-old former MLA Ratna Thumar in Junagadh donated Rs 51,000 in the chief minister relief fund constituted to fight against Covid-19 outbreak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally phoned him to appreciate his gesture on Monday.
“Even at this age, your enthusiasm has not ebbed. I salute you for your noble gesture. You have to live for many years. Please take care of your health,” the PM reportedly told Thumar.
When Thumar walked into Junagadh collectorate on Friday, the security guard stopped him. While handing him a sanitizer bottle, the guard asked him, “Do you need any help?” Thumar replied to him: “No, I don't need any help. When our country is passing through such crisis, I have come here to make some donation from my savings to help the country.” As the lift in the collectorate was not operational, Thumar climbed up the stairs to make the donation.
When the PM, who is known to keep the smallest updates of Gujarat, came to know about this, he took care to personally give Thumar a call. Thumar had served as an MLA from Mendarda constituency in Junagadh district from 1975 to 1980. When former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had given a call for skipping one time meal when the country was passing through a famine, Thumar decided to skip one time meal on every Monday.
“I've been skipping one time meal on every Monday,” said Thumar, who does not take his pension from the government.