Veteran Indian batsman and Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir has announced that he will bear the educational expenses of the children of 25 CRPF jawans martyred in the Maoist attack on an Army camp in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district.
The cricketer’s media manager confirmed to ANI that the Gautam Gambhir Foundation will take care of the entire educational expenses of the soldiers killed in the ghastly Naxal attack on April 24.
The initial steps in this regard have reportedly already been taken.
Backing the move, Union Minister of Urban Development and Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation M. Venkaiah Naidu earlier took to his Twitter account and complimented Gambhir for setting an example.
"Compliments to @GautamGambhir for setting an example, pledging to bear educational expenses for kids of #SukmaMartyrs. Inspirational!," he tweeted.
Reacting on the tragedy, Gambhir had said that he was left shaken by the massacre and the “gut-wrenching” pictures that appeared on newspapers the next day.
“On Wednesday morning, I picked up newspapers and saw gut-wrenching pictures of the daughters of two CRPF men killed in the latest attacks. One was saluting her martyred father while in the other picture, the howling young woman was being consoled by her relative,” said Gambhir in his column for a daily.
Gauta Gambhir-led KKR wore black arm bands for their Wednesday’s IPL clash against Rising Pune Supergiants. The arm bands were worn to condole the Sukma attack.
“It was KKR’s tribute to the CRPF soldiers who lost their lives. The idea came from skipper Gautam Gambhir,” a team official had told Hindustan Times.
