Vada pav seller pledges one day's salary for army welfare

Mangesh Ahiwale, a vada pav seller in Mumbai, is again in the news for his generous gesture after he pledged to give his one-day earnings to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the welfare of soldiers.

As part of his charitable decision, Ahiwale sold vada pav at more than 60 per cent cheaper rate on Tuesday, so that everyone could have it.

So, instead of selling each of them at Rs 14, he sold it for Rs 5 only.

"This is just a small initiative so that people respect our soldiers. The amount is Rs. 5, because I want that even a poor man is able to buy a vada pav. The whole collection will be sent to Nirmala Sitharaman," Ahiwale told ANI here and promised to send it by Wednesday.

He said he took this initiative after he realised that people were remembering soldiers only on January 26 and August 15.

"Every Indian respects the soldiers of the nation and I am also one of them. Except on January 26 and August 15, the remembrance for these soldiers is diminishing. This is just a small initiative so that people respect them every day," he added.

The vada pav seller has at least twice taken initiatives like this in the past.

In 2015, Ahiwale donated Rs. 20,000 to Chief Minister's Relief Fund for farmers in drought-hit Marathwada and Vidarbha regions.

He repeated the humanitarian gesture last year for a family of Elphinstone Stampede victim.

-ANI