Ex-Army Jawan wins hearts in Odisha by offering free rides to poor

Angul: A former Army Jawan won many hearts in Odisha by offering free rides to poor patients in his battery-operated rickshaw to hospitals in Angul district.

Narendra Kumar Dehury, a resident of Shankhapur village in Angul district, has become talk of the town in Bantala for his philanthropic service.

The 46-year-Jawan, who had been protecting the country’s border during his service in Indian Army, decided to provide free transportation service to poor patients after his retirement.

According to reports, Dehury had joined Indian Army in 1995. He served the nation during his postings on borders in the states including Punjab, Manipur and Rajasthan. Serving the nation for 24 years, he retired from service as the Havildar in 2019. Post-retirement, he wanted to serve people of his village.

As per statement of Dehury, an incident showed him the path to step into the philanthropic act.

“After retirement, I saw sufferings of people at my locality. Even I had many issue on my domestic front. Once my wife fell sick. When I approached to avail a public transport to the hospital, an autorickshaw driver denied to help me stating he has another passenger for the service and the fare will not meet his satisfaction. On that day, I decided to do something for poor people. I wanted to provide them free ride service to the hospitals at low investment for which I bought an Elite battery vehicle.” said Dehury.

Many villagers have been benefited from the free transportation service offered by Dehury in last four months. He has carried around 50 people belonging to economically weaker section in his battery-operated vehicle to Banta Community Health Centre and Angul District Headquarters without charging to them for his service.

Dehury said that he will continue offering the free service whenever a poor person will ask for help to visit the hospital.