Actor Sonu Sood, who has been hailed as a hero on social media for his efforts to send thousands of stranded migrants to their home villages during and after the lockdown, has been honoured with the prestigious SDG Special Humanitarian Action Award by the Department of Planning of the Government of Punjab. The actor has received the award at a virtual ceremony on Monday for selflessly helping stranded migrants during the coronavirus crisis by arranging food, buses, trains and chartered flights for them and providing them job opportunities for better livelihood. The 47-year-old actor also offered his hotel in Mumbai for medical professionals to stay in and arranged safe shelters for several people in Mumbai before cyclone Nisarga hit Maharashtra coast in July.
The award was thought to have been conferred to Sonu Sood by the UNDP but the UN body in a statement issued a clarification and said: "The 'Special Humanitarian Action Award' given to Mr Sonu Sood was conferred on him by the Department of Planning of the Government of Punjab, with the support of the Sustainable Development Goals Coordination Centre. The awardees were selected based on the recommendation of an independent jury. UNDP was not involved in the selection nor in the conferring of the award to Mr Sonu Sood. We congratulate Mr Sood on receiving this award and appreciate his humanitarian efforts to help people in these challenging times."
.@UNDP statement on award to Mr. Sonu Sood. pic.twitter.com/DelxHJcjaj
- UNDP India (@UNDP_India) September 29, 2020
During the lockdown, Sonu Sood even launched a toll-free helpline number so that he can help those who needed assistance during the coronavirus crisis. He also reached out to a couple of members of the film fraternity who asked for financial help on social media.
Sonu Sood has featured in a number of Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films. He made his acting debut with the 1999 Tamil film Kallazhagar and ventured into Bollywood with the 2002 film Shaheed-E-Azam. Sonu Sood is best-known for his performances in movies like Dabangg, Yuva, Athadu, Jodhaa Akbar, Dookudu, Shootout At Wadala, Happy New Year and Simmba, among many others.
