Made To Help

A single blow of misfortune can destroy lives. This is what happened in Bhopal. Homes and lives, built bit by bit  was burned to ashes with a single stroke of bad luck. On 9th April 2018, at 12:00 noon, in a hot day, LPG gas cylinder, in one of the shanties of the slum near posh residential area of Saket Nagar, exploded and heavy fire broke our. Quickly whole slum was turned into a fire pot melting down  not just the houses, but dreams and lives of helpless slum dwellers. Amid all this chaos, a group of young men in 'Khaki Shorts'  arrived there and launched the rescue and relief operation.  It seemed as if God had sent Angels to do his bidding, to save and serve the people in the times of sufferings.  The young men in 'Khaki' shorts were none other than RSS swayam sevaks in Gana-Vesh. The swayam sevaks, through their selfless devotion to  the cause to alleviate the sufferings of fellow human beings formed a wall of protection against chaos and misfortune. The swayam-sevaks took it upon themselves to pull house-hold items out of fire, while some pitched tents to shelter the affected families. Thirty one shacks in this 25 year old slum  got destroyed in the fire. The victims had lost everything, the situation was desparate.

Within few hours the swayam-sevaks had erected tents for the night, made arrangements for required clothes and dinner for the evening. According to Bhopal (Vibhag) Bauddhik Pramukh Shri Nitin ji Kekre , all required provisions were arranged within few hours by swayam-sevaks by contacting everyone from local administration to mandir samiti.

Shanta bai, had resided in the slum for last 25 years. Her entire savings eked from working as house-maid was all gone. Without insurance or pension plan, all her savings for old age gone up in flames, and now getting older and feeble day by day, how would she survive? She could not stop her tears, no matter how hard she tried to be brave. She was not even sure where she would sleep for the night or about the next meal. She says  swayam sevaks who arrived as God's angels, gave her courage and hope, and took care of her needs for next two days until help arrived from Government and other NGOs. The first to arrive at the disaster site - Shri Ashwini ji Chadhar, Shri Gauravji Shukla, Shri Atul ji Vishwakarma, on the first day arranged food from hotel, and on the second  day from the neighboruing 150 families residing in sector 2A colony. The swayam-sevaks also reached out to the temple committee and to Seva-Bharati for help.

Seva Bharati Matru-Mandal arranged for books for the students whose families were affected by the fire. They also got Mandir rooms opened so that the students could prepare for the exams. Within 24 hours of the fire breaking out, Seva Bharati's mobile medical van reached the disaster site with medicinal supplies. Dr Dinesh Sharma provided the burn victims with medical care and with medicines.

Now the government has moved the affected families to nearby multi-storied building. Other NGOs and organizations have also become active. The swyam-sewaks are now synchronizing the efforts of all such organizations to ensure that the help reaches the truly needy person.