Himachal: Activist pledges Rs 50 lakh for flood-hit Kullu after Rs 1.25 cr donation to Mandi

Shimla, Sep 18 (PTI) After donating Rs 1.25 crore to disaster-hit people in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, Social activist Sarabjit Singh Bobby has pledged Rs 50-lakh help for people affected by floods in Kullu district.

Speaking to PTI Videos here, he said, “I visited Seraj in Mandi on July 15-16 and saw that the help coming for victims was not enough.” So, we decided to adopt 500 affected families in disaster-hit Seraj, Thunag and Janjheli areas of Mandi and gave Rs 25,000 each to affected families. And with God's grace, we have been successful, he added.

During the ongoing monsoon season, a total of 71 people have so far died in Mandi and Kullu districts in rain related incidents. The two districts were the worst hit and witnessed 31 cloudbursts, 24 flash floods and 41 major landslides since June 20 till date.

Now, we have committed Rs 50 lakhs for affected families in Kullu, said the founder of a Shimla-based NGO- Almighty Blessings.

“We have limited resources but our spirits are high,” Bobby added, while appealing to the public to also extend a helping hand.

"If we think that someone will come for help, it won't help… we have to take initiative ourselves to help the people in distress and become role models,” said Bobby, who claimed to have helped about 2-3-crore people through ‘langer’ (community kitchen) and other services in the past 28 years.

Bobby has been steering a funeral van ferrying bodies free of cost, running a free langar at the cancer hospital in Shimla to feed patients and their attendants for the past 11 years and has organised a large number of blood donation camps.

"When we started langer at IGMC cancer hospital in 2014, the food for patients and their attendants was cooked in a 100 sq feet shed and it was not possible to cook chapatis on a large scale. So, school children were roped in and encouraged to bring extra chapattis in their lunch for donation,” Bobby said.

Today, we have 33,000 school children from 35 schools who bring additional one-two chapatis once a week in their lunch boxes and these chapatis are sent for the langer, he said, adding, "I believe that such initiatives inspire people and also inculcate a habit of sharing.” About 5,000 cancer patients and their attendants arrive at IGMC every day and about 3,000 are served langer. This t is an attempt to help the ailing people as they come to the hospital under compelling circumstances, the social activist said.

Bobby, who is a businessman and runs shops in Shimla’s Lower Bazaar, said, "I believe in spirituality and not religion.” PTI BPL NB NB