Neelam Patel renders yeoman services to the downtrodden

GNN | Mar 30, 2020, 3:54 AM IST|

• Gujarat Vidyapith post-graduate feeds over 200 people in Valsad

Gujarat News Network

Surat, March 29, 2020: Neelambhai Patel, 35, a Gujarat Vidyapith post-graduate is rendering yeoman services providing food to beggars in Valsad in south Gujarat during the ongoing 41-day lockdown since March 24 to May 3.
This report learns after the outbreak of Covid-19 a bulk of the beggars in Valsad had to battle the monster of hunger. This was because the beggars had no alternative but to go hungry as people were scared of going close to them.
Secondly even if these beggars have money, they can’t buy food as all eateries, food joints and restaurants are closed. “Also these beggars have no cooking facility. So we decided to provide them with food,” Neelambhai tells Vijaysinh Parmar of TNN.
Hailing from Gundlav, a village three-km from Valsad Neelambhai has dedicated his life to the upliftment of the downtrodden tribals in Khoba village in Dharampur taluka in the interior and remote part of Valsad bordering Maharasthra.
But after the outbreak of Covid-19 and its quick spread across the country and the subsequent announcement of lockdown, situation started going from bad to worse for people who live on the streets especially the beggars.
This grim situation caught the attention of Neelambhai. “When I was in Gundlav I noticed that lockdown had left beggars in a terrible situation as people were scared to offer food to them at their doorsteps. Hence, I along with some volunteers decided to start a kitchen in my village to feed these people,” Neelambhai told Vijaysinh. “We feed them twice a day and ensure that they don’t go hungry.”
On an average Neelambhai provides food to 200 people every day including 172 beggars and 30 migrant construction workers who have no place to go because of the lockdown.
Not just the food, Neelambhai also organised a health check-up of all the beggars by the district health department on Friday.
Valsad Collector CR Kharsan is all praise for the young Gandhian. He says, “Neelambhai and his team are doing a commendable work to help those in need in Valsad. Our district administration is helping them amid the lockdown situation.”
Patel, a 2007 post graduate from Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad opted to go to Khoba and started work on education, health and environment in tribal areas practicing Gandhian principles.
About 14 days back Gujarat Vidyapith and the US based Gandhian Society felicitated Neelambhai alongwith others. The felicitation was done to take on record the commendable and ideal work done by Neelambhai at the grassroots level. Vidyapith Chancellor Elaben Bhatt and Vice-Chancellor Anamik Shah conferred the awards.