Sonia exhorts people for social work

Uchahar, Rae Bareli, Oct 17: Congress president Sonia Gandhi today urged the people to devote themselves for the betterment of the poor and needy.

''Those who care and serve the society are successful by all means,'' she observed.

Addressing a function to mark the conclusion of the medical camp organised by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) through Lifeline Express, Ms Gandhi said it is not the work of the governments only to serve the society, but now NGOs and social groups should take the lead in the field.

Admitting that at present, only a few voluntary organisations really serve the society, she said there are several fields where government has no role to play.

Besides, these organisations can make the people aware about community participation in any development, which is the need of the day, she added.

Narrating in detail the activities of the RGF, Ms Gandhi during her 10 minutes speech said several projects were under way although it was witnessing financial crunch. ''It is an achievement that the Foundation is doing its work without any publicity,'' she added.

The Foundation is running 1,300 village libraries for school children in 21 states, taking care of education and livelihood of 1,400 children, who have lost their parents to terrorism.

RGF have constructed small dams to store water in the water scarcity region of Rajasthan.

During her speech, Ms Gandhi avoided political references and only spoke on the developmental aspect and the works of the RGF. The dias was shared by Moni Malhotra, secretary general RFG and Colonel Vishwanathan, CEO of Impact India, which runs the Lifeline Express. The Express reached Uchahar on September 22 and during its 27 days stay, provided medical advice to 7,233 patients, besides conducting 777 eye-operations, 127 plastic surgeries and distributed 550 hearing aids and 127 tri-cycle to the disabled.

Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constitutency of Ms Gandhi, had a rare achievement to recieve three such medical camps earlier at Jais, Bachrawa and Jagidishpur. Such medical camps had also been organised in nearby Amethi, Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi, son of the Congress president.

Lifeline Express or Jeevan Rekha Express is a mobile hospital in a train run by the Indian Railways (IR).

There are two such trains. Each train, comprises of specially designed air-conditioned coaches, two surgical operation theatres with three operating tables, a sterilising room, several patient wards, on-board power generators, a pantry car, storage for medical supplies and accommodation for medical staff.

The train visits different parts of the country, usually rural areas that have insufficient medical facilities, or areas hit by natural disasters. It stays in each place for several days, while medical care (routine as well as major surgery) is provided to the local people.

Lifeline Express was started on July 16, 1991, with three coaches donated by IR, and equipment from Impact India, a non-profit health service provider based in New York. Impact India still runs the trains with help from IR and corporate and private donors.

UNI