When the nationwide lockdown was announced in March by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cyclist Philem Rohan Singh from Manipur was on his way from Delhi to Japan.
Philem Rohan Singh of Manipur was taking part in a campaign that was organized by the Paralympic Committee of India. As a part of the campaign, he was riding from Delhi to Japan. The theme of the campaign was inclusion dignity and respect. Because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, he had to make a stop in Kolkata and fly back to his state.
Philem, who was already in some charity work, got together with his friends and started distributing food items to those who had no food to eat and had no shelter above their heads due to the novel coronavirus lockdown. They got in touch with 30 homeless people who were living in a market of Imphal. He said,
“Since late March, we have been providing them food, at least one meal a day for the homeless. But now since the lockdown has been intensified and there is the fear of community transmission of COVID-19, we are struggling to reach them every day.”
3 Lakhs Spent
Since March, Philem and his friends have spent around Rs. 3 lakhs in feeding the poor. While some came through donations, the rest was raised by activists themselves. He says,
“After I reached out to many politicians and ministers, they have made some contributions in their individual capacity. I also have a logo T-shirt called ‘Cycling for Humanity’ with a hashtag of service without salary. We sell the T-shirts to whoever is interested and raise the money. We go out on our cycles every day looking for the hungry. We have identified some 30 of them who we feed every day and there will be others who also we see on the streets and feed them.”
He further said,
“We had another team that was mostly doing the cooking, but now due to the restrictions, they are not available. So we identified five home homeless people who could cook. We provide them utensils and other necessities and dry rations, which they prepare themselves.”
He said that they will continue to do their bit for the society but eventually they will burn out as there is a limit to what one can do. He hopes the government can step in and help the homeless.
Source: India Times
