A day after he won the hearts of the people of his adopted village in Osmanabad, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar said on Wednesday that he "left a piece of my heart in Donja".
The Rajya Sabha MP's heart-felt tweet came after his maiden trip to review the status of several project in the village which he has adopted under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) in November 2016. Donja is around 330 kms from Mumbai.
"My visit to Donja has been a heart-warming one filled with promise and hope," he said of the half-day spent there on Tuesday (Dec. 19)," Tendulkar said.
"Many miles we've gone towards building a better life for the villagers and many more to go. But this is a great step in the right direction," he added.
The batting idol virtually floored the village of 2,800 on his short visit do Donja where he was accorded a hero's welcome and showered with love and affection.
With Osmanabad collector R. V. Game, Sachin reviewed the progress of the works to be carried out under the Rs 4 crore committed by him, which include construction of a water tank with direct pipelines to the homes of the villagers for giving them access to drinking water, construction of a new school building, and concrete roads along with a sewage system in Donja.
An NGO Happiness InDiya Foundation with which the cricketer is associated, has decided to provide solar energy-based lighting systems to the upcoming school and other public amenities in Donja which has already been accorded ODF (Open Defecation Free) status this year.
Later, he attended a function where he felicitated the children and women of the village for various activities including academics and Bachat Gat' schemes by awarding them prizes, trophies and certificates.
Lauding Donja inhabitants, the Bharat Ratna laureate said that his inspection teams found that Donja was very different, the 2,800 people here "displayed a tremendous fighting spirit, and all communities live and work harmoniously."
Then Tendulkar played cricket with the village school boys on a makeshift pitch, he took the nervousness and follies of the youngsters in his stride, joked laughed and enjoyed as they attempted to bowl' him out.
He also interacted with a group of aged women waiting for his 'darshan' patiently in an enclosure and several men of different communities in the village at another venue nearby.
