By IANS
New Delhi : Former India captain Kapil Dev, who is also the chairman of the Indian Cricket League (ICL), declined comment on his ongoing spat with the Indian cricket board while announcing a tie-up of his charity Khushii with Delhi-based fast food chain Nirula’s here Tuesday.
“This is not a forum to discuss issues like cricket. Here we have come for a good cause to raise fund for my charity organisation Khushii and I would prefer to stick to that,” said Kapil.
“Khushii believes in helping the underprivileged children in every possible way. I appreciate that Nirula’s have come forward to extend their support towards a noble cause,” he said.
Just a few days back, Kapil had hit out the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for threatening to take action against players who join the ICL, which is being promoted by the Essel Group, headed by media tycoon Subhash Chandra.
As part of the tie-up with Khushii, Nirula’s will undertake several fund-raising programmes to support Khushii’s education initiative – Shikshaantra, a programme that takes education to the doorsteps of the underprivileged children and also forms self-help groups to provide vocational training to women.
“I strongly feel that more corporates like Nirula’s need to associate with non-government organisations like Khushii to make a difference in the lives of under-privileged children,” said Kapil, the Khushii chairman.
A sum of Rs.160,000 was handed over to Khushii by Nirual’s, who raised the amount through an art auction in May.
“We believe that children are the future agents of change and so we wanted them to be the beneficiaries of our efforts and activities,” Nirula’s chief exectuive Samir Kuckreja said.
“We are happy to support Khushii and its Shikshaantra project and encourage their efforts towards creating a learning environment.”
Nirula’s will place collection boxes at all its outlets to generate funds for Khushii.