Ahmedabad: Men and women stand shoulder to shoulder as about half a dozen civil society groups and NGOs work for the fourth consecutive day to help the distressed people at B.J Medical College.
At the hospital’s Kasauti Bhavan, these volunteers and organisations are providing snacks, energy drinks, food and tea to the steady stream of relatives and friends of the Air India AI171 crash victims and well-wishers. Packets of biscuits and namkeen (salty or savoury snack), glasses of chaach (buttermilk), lassi, and glucose, and bottles of water are swiftly handed over to anyone in need.
Volunteers and members from the Thali Yuva Sangh, the Vishv Umiya Foundation, the Ram Shyam Charitable Trust, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind are among those present at hospital premises in these pressing times.
Sunday is no exception as many anxious family members wait outside the hospital for updates regarding their loved ones. Many of them have food at the stalls put up by these civil society groups and NGOs.
Hafiz Nizam and Krishna Ben Agrawal are among the men and women quietly going about with their task to help the distressed.
A local businessman, Nizam is working from the very beginning of the tragedy that unfolded in Ahmedabad. He is part of the Jamiat’s 26-member team helping people and distributing food packets in the hospital.
“Our three ambulances are also in the service for ferrying the bodies,” the 25-year-old says, adding the team is deployed throughout day and night at the hospital.
The people from all religions are united here, he says, distributing water bottles. “Yae Hindustan ki asli tasveer hae…yahi ekta hae. Allah se dua karte hae ki hamesha ye bana rahe. Sab milkar kaam kar rahe hain (This is the real picture of India…this is unity. We pray to Allah that it always remains so. Everyone is working together).”
Krishna Ben says that she immediately decided to do something for people at the hospital when she saw the news of the plane crash on 12 June.
“TV mae dekhte hi raungte khade hogaye. Hum bhag ke hospital aaye (As soon as we saw it on TV, we got goosebumps. We rushed to the hospital,” the president of Shri Ram Shyam Charitable Trust recalls.
Her team, she says, reached the hospital at 9 pm Thursday with khichdi, kadi and gathiya (Gujarati food). They distributed food till 1 am that night. “Hume laga ki logo ki seva karni chahiye, yahi sabse bada dharm hai (We felt that serving people is the biggest religion).”
Pawan Kumar Mittal, a colleague of Krishna Ben, concurs with the sentiment. “Ish time mae koi Hindu aur Muslim nahi…Koi insan yaha se bhuka nahi jana chahiye. Sab logon kae liye kaam karre (There are no Hindus or Muslims in this time…no person should go hungry from here. We should work for everyone).”
On Sunday, the charitable trust handed out glasses of chaach and mango shake apart from the usual food packets.
Just adjacent to the Shri Ram Shyam Charitable Trust’s stall, Prakash Bhai Goswami of Agrawal Seva Samiti is operating a Bhojan Rath (food chariot) which feeds 1,200 people day and night. “We have been distributing food for the last three days. In the afternoon, we feed 600 people and another 600 at night.”
Goswami says just after the air crash, he called the Samiti president and suggested that they should help people at the hospital. “From the next day, we started the Bhojan Rath at the medical college. We will run it until all the bodies are handed over to the families.”
From day one, members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have continuously managed traffic control and security arrangements at the civil hospital. Around 200 RSS members are present day and night to streamline the traffic movement at the hospital.
(Edited by Tony Rai)