Actor Sonu Sood on Sunday provided a tractor to a farmer in Andhra Pradesh within hours after he learnt that the farmer was ploughing his field with the help of his daughters, as he could not afford to rent bulls. Although the actor first promised to send a pair of oxen, he later sent Nageswara Rao a tractor, so that his daughters could focus on their education.
A video of the tomato farmer’s daughters ploughing the field with the yoke on their shoulders went viral over social media on Saturday.
On seeing the video, Sonu Sood wrote on Twitter on Sunday morning that the family would get a tractor the same day. True to his promise, the actor ensured that the tractor reached the farmer's family in Maharajuvari Palle village in Chittoor district.
He had tweeted on Saturday night that by Sunday morning the farmer will have a pair of oxen. "By tomorrow morning, he will have a pair of oxen to plough the fields. Let the girls focus on their education," he had tweeted.
However, on Sunday morning he tweeted, "This family doesn't deserve a pair of oxen. They deserve a tractor, so sending you one. By evening, a tractor will be ploughing your fields. Stay blessed".
The farmer Veerathallu Nageswara Rao had no money to rent bulls for ploughing as he suffered huge losses during the COVID-19 induced lockdown. In the video, he was seen taking help from his daughters Vennela (Class 12) and Chandana (Class 10) in place of bulls to shoulder the yoke, while he was holding the blade for softening the earth and his wife Lalitha was spraying seeds.
Nageswara Rao ran a tea stall at Madanapalle for about two decades, but the lockdown forced him to close down his business.
With hardly any money in hand, the family moved back to their native village to take up farming on their two-acre land.
Thanking Sonu Sood for his gesture, Nageswara Rao said, “I don't know how to thank him for this help. A day ago we did not have money to hire bulls and today he has made us the owner of this tractor.”
Meanwhile, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu, who also belongs to Chittoor district, hailed the actor's gesture and also stepped in to help the farmer’s family.
"Spoke with Sonu Sood ji and applauded him for his inspiring effort to send a tractor to Nageswara Rao's family in Chittoor district. Moved by the plight of the family, I have decided to take care of the education of the two daughters and help them pursue their dreams," Naidu said in a tweet.
This article has been published in arrangement with The News Minute.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)