“Helping hands are better than praying lips” – Mother Teresa.
This sentence falls true in every sense. A person’s actions speak louder than their words. Their little help can go a long way and may bring happiness into people’s lives. And the ones that genuinely need our help are the millions of destitute living in the country.
They work as laborers in kilns and construction sites and live in slums because their meager income forces them to. Numerous people go to sleep on empty stomachs every day. It may be difficult to reach out to everyone, but police officials of Haryana are trying their best to help the below poverty line population as much as they can, through their ‘Roti Banks’.
ROTI BANKS
Running in five districts of Haryana by Additional DGP (Haryana State Narcotics Control Bureau), Mr. Shrikant Jadhav, the ‘Roti Banks’ have been established to check begging and instill confidence among the poor and destitute children that they are not alone in this world.
The ‘bank’ was inaugurated in June 2017 by the 1994 batch IPS officer when he was posted as Inspector General of Police of State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) in Madhuban, Bihar.
“It was not my individual effort. It was a collective effort of Haryana Police personnel from various districts,” says Mr. Jadhav self-effacingly.
IDEA FOR THE BANK
Explaining how he decided to launch the ‘roti bank’, Mr. Jadhav one day decided to distribute food to the poor near the SCRB campus where he was posted. Some 40 food packets – all cooked by the staff and their families- were prepared. He went to a nearby brick kiln and distributed these food packets. However, within minutes of him reaching there, his car got surrounded by dozens of children asking for food. He was taken aback by the situation!
That’s when the idea of opening a ‘roti bank’ struck the officer. He decided that at least one meal in a day could be given to these people. Thus, he launched the ‘bank’.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE PROJECT
Initially, Mr. Jadhav began with a team of 40-45 police personnel and their families who would provide food at least once a day to the homeless and the needy.
“My staff enthusiastically volunteered as we appealed to the families of the police personnel staying on the campus to donate chapattis. We placed collection baskets at various points on the campus. The group cooked sabzi and dal and then prepared the packets for distribution. It was about 300 meals per day,” he said.
Under this initiative, families living inside the police complex drop two, three, or four chapatis daily in baskets at 10 locations in the complex. Other eatables like vegetables and rice are cooked by personnel in the complex. After preparing the silver foil packets, the food is distributed at various places, including brick kilns and slums.
COVID19 SPEED BUMP
Last year when COVID 19 struck and lockdown restrictions were seriously imposed, the ‘bank’ had to be suspended for a few days, which left hundreds of people hungry.
We received feedback that the poor and the needy were unable to earn their living and had nothing to eat. So, we decided that the ‘bank’ would now not stop even for a day,” stated Mr. Jadhav in an interview.
During such a time, the ‘roti bank’ did not just provide food to the needy but also gave them the necessary medicines that they required.
INVOLVING OTHERS
The exemplary initiative keeps up with the motto of ‘Sewa, Suraksha, and Sehyog’ (service, security, and help) and provides food at least once a day to the needy. The officer approached various IAS, IPS, and HPS officers, inspectors, sub-inspectors, ASIs, head constables, and constables through letters and over the telephone to come forward to contribute Rs300 each for this noble cause.
They deposit money into a bank account specifically for this purpose. Several residents have joined the initiative and have been contributing to it.
“It is teamwork and all members of ‘Roti Bank’ work with dedication and generosity, in addition to their office work. We have displayed the bank account number with the IFSC code and contact numbers at various places for those who want to contribute to the social cause,” said Mr. Ramesh Chand, president of ‘Roti Bank’.
SUCCESSFUL INITIATIVE
There are around 3,000 members of such ‘banks’ being run at Madhuban in Karnal, Kurukshetra, Rewari, Faridabad, and Gurugram where more than 2,000 food packets are distributed daily. A ‘Roti Bank’ team goes to various places every day covering a city. Civilians too are members of the ‘bank’.
Each district where the roti bank is in operation has an individual bank account and the donations are collected and deposited into that account and spent accordingly. “We encourage people to celebrate their or their children’s birthdays by donating for this cause,” says Mr. Jadhav.
These ‘Roti Banks’ are proof that ‘somewhere along the way, we must learn that there is nothing greater than to do something for others.
