With Tendulkar also giving his nod for Project Tiger, just days after Bachchan was announced as the face of the campaign, forest department is now thinking of ways to accommodate Master Blaster
This is one quandary the forest department probably won’t mind facing again. Having knocked on the doors of, arguably, the biggest, shiniest stars of their respective fields to be the face of tiger conservation for Maharashtra, the state forest department received a happy surprise in the form of nods from both Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar.
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Also Read: Amitabh Bachchan to be brand ambassador of Maharashtra's tiger conservation project
Amitabh Bachchan and Sudhir Mungantiwar (right) at a function in the city to announce him as the ambassador of tiger conservation for the state on August 11
Spoilt for choice, but faced with a conundrum, the department decided to go with Big B because he gave his assent first. Unwilling to let go of the Master Blaster either, however, the department plans to make him the brand ambassador of Forests Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar’s pet project, Van Dhan Jan Dhan, hoping to score a twin win for the state.
Request
On International Tiger Day, July 29, the state forests ministry had written to Bachchan as well as Tendulkar, asking them to be the ambassadors for Project Tiger. On August 10, the ministry got a favourable response from Bachchan. The actor met Mungantiwar the very next day and the deal was signed.
Sachin Tendulkar
On August 13, Tendulkar sent a letter asking the ministry to share details of their expectations from him in the capacity of Tiger Ambassador. According to sources, the minister has decided to hold a meeting on Thursday regarding this and, in all likelihood, Tendulkar will be made the ambassador for the Van Dhan Jan Dhan project (see box).
Conundrum
A senior officer from the forest department said, “Bachchan had said that his letter should be treated as his consent to represent the state of Maharashtra as Tiger Ambassador. Whereas Tendulkar, in his letter, had said, ‘I request you to kindly share details of the expectations from me in the capacity of Tiger Ambassador of the state’.
Read Story: Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar urged to help protect tigers
The difference in both the letters is evident. Also, before we received Tendulkar’s letter, we had got the letter from Bachchan and everything had been confirmed.” “We do not, however, want to lose out on having Tendulkar as an ambassador and are looking for him to help us promote the Van Dhan Jan Dhan project, which was inaugurated in Nagpur on Sunday,” he added.
Minister speak
Forests Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told mid-day that Bachchan had been chosen the Tiger Ambassador because he had replied first and also because he had consented, while Tendulkar had sought a meeting. “I have asked for Tendulkar’s time, which we are most likely to get next week.
We will give him the option of being the ambassador for Van Dhan Jan Dhan or Harit Sena. We are working on various subjects related to forests in Maharashtra for which we can have Tendulkar as our brand ambassador. If he doesn’t like our proposal, we will ask him what he would like to promote for our ministry,” said Mungantiwar.
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