A relief rally with Bollywood participation is being organised on Sunday (Septembet 7) in Mumbai to create awareness on and mobilise support to flood ravaged Bihar. It will cover the affluent localities of suburban Mumbai from Lokhandwala to Andheri, Juhu and Bandra.Representatives of Lions club, political parties, film industry will participate in the rally, Maharashtra Congress spokesman Sanjay Nirupam told reporters. The press conference was called to make an appeal to Mumbaikars to contribute to "Punarwaas", a flood relief mission started by noted filmmaker Prakash Jha in the Supaul district of Bihar to look after 5,000 flood-affected people.Shatrughan Sinha, Shekhar Suman, Manoj Bajpai, Prakash Jha, Udit Narayan were prominent Biharis present at the press conference.Mahesh Bhatt, Salman Khan, Govinda, Priyanka Chopra are expected to participate in the rally, Nirupam said. Nirupam said he is in talks with Wizcraft, the event management company for organising a concert of Bollywood stars next month to raise funds.Jha said,"Kosi Maiyya as we revere her in Bihar is angry. Angry because she has been uncared for and ignored for too long. This time her fury and devastation is unprecedented.""She has changed course by miles and flooded vast areas of North Bihar submerging more than eight districts and displaced nearly three million people. It will take months to even estimate the loss of life and property, But, the trauma that these people have gone through will perhaps never be estimated," Jha said. Jha said his close friends Manmohan Shetty of Adlabs, Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgan have helped him start the project. "Nana has given Rs 25 lakh," he added. "My close peers from Bihar Shatrughan Sinha, Manoj Bajpai, Shekhar Suman, Manoj Tiwari, Neetu Chandra, Udit Narayan, Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua and several others are trying to do their bit. It is a long, expensive and ardous mission, we need help," he said. He appealed to Mumbaikars to donate to the Punarwaas flood relief mission. Jha said "Prayas, the child focussed development organisation, with a vision to restore the lost childhood of neglected, street and working children is his partner in the Punarwaas mission.The health care and medical team has been provided by UNICEF. Sanitation and Hygiene management has been supported by Sulabh international, he said. (PTI) ... read more »