Bhagat Puran Singh’s birth anniversary observed

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, June 2

Members of the All India Pingalwara Charitable Society today marked the 120th birth anniversary of its founder Bhagat Puran Singh in a unique way.

Braving the scorching heat under blistering sun, they sat on the footpath near Railway Hospital adjacent to the Amritsar railway station for three hours to mark it as ‘Sewa Tapasya Day’.

They did so in order to get a feel of how Bhagat Puran Singh started helping the destitute and disabled who migrated from Pakistan after Partition and did not have anyone to look after. The work started from here further led to the foundation of the society that now houses around 1,800 patients, including over 800 with intellectual disabilities, together with children. “We wanted to know, feel and remember the difficulties Bhagat ji had faced in the scorching summers at that time when he started helping the destitute,” said Dr Inderjit Kaur, president of the Society.

She said Bhagat Puran Singh used to help the destitute, disabled and elderly in refugee camps at Khalsa College where 25,000 refugees from Pakistan had taken shelter. The camp remained there till December 31, 1947. Later, Puran Singh performed sewa on the road outside Chief Khalsa Diwan office and then he shifted to outside railway station and helped the needy for months which he started from January 1948.

Dr Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, former IG and MLA, also participated in the programme. Members of the Society distributed free literature on the occasion. Among others who took part in the function were Dr Jagdeep Singh, vice-president, Mukhtar Singh Goraya, honorary secretary and Rajbir Singh, member. The owners of Pritam Dhaba and Joginder Dhaba distributed langar on the occasion.