Quenching the thirst of rail passengers

Phagwara, Apr 15: With day temperatures rising in Punjab and hovering close to the 40 degrees Celsius mark, volunteers of the Janata Jal Sewa Samiti have swung into action to quench the thirst of railway passengers.

As trains come to a halt at the local railway station volunteers with colourful plastic glasses of water run up and down on the two platforms, offering cold water to the passengers seated in the compartments. After quenching their thirst, the passengers throw the empty glasses on the platforms.

The empty glasses are then collected by the volunteers, washed and rinsed and then refilled with water. All through the day and at even at night, this exercise of offering water to passengers of all trains that pass and halt at the railway station here continues.

On festive occasions like Baisakhi sweatened water is offered to the passengers by the Janata Jal Sewa Samiti. Besides offering water in glasses, the volunteers even refill water bottles and ''surais''(earthen pots) that passengers carry while travelling on trains.

Barring a few, virtually all mail and express trains make a brief two minute halt at this railway station lying on the busy Ludhiana-Jalandhar section. It is because of the brief halt of the trains, that volunteers advise the passengers to throw the empty glasses on the platform as they have no time to collect each and every glass from the passengers.

The Sewa Samiti headed by local resident Vipin Khurana was started formally in 1986 was now being patronised by several philanthropists of the area. ''Offering water to a thirsty person, is one of the greatest 'sewas' that one can perform'', Mr Khurana reminds his volunteers time and again. Mr Khurana personally takes care to see that the water being offered is clean and he even checks the ice slabs before these are put into the large tubs of water that are placed at different places on the two platforms at the station.

''What does it cost to offer water?'' asks Mr Khurana to anyone who approaches him to offer help. ''The spirit of 'sewa' comes from within a person'', he tells his volunteers, many of whom are young boys who come to the station after attending school.

Each day a large number of glasses go missing, but next day local residents come to the station with fresh supply of glasses.

Perhaps at no railway station in India, is this form of organised 'sewa' performed.

The 'jal sewa' (offering water) of this summer season was inaugurated by Baba Kashmira Singh, Founder Chairman of SGL Charitable Hospital, Jalandhar yesterday. Varinder Sharma, Editor of a vernacular newspaper, Avinesh Arora, General Secretary, Shri Ram Navmi Sewa Utsav Committee, Jalandhar and Bhushan Nandwani, Station Superintendent participated in the function.

On the occasion, Baba Kashmira Singh announced a donation of Rs 11,000 for the 'jal sewa, while Mr Vijay Chopra, Chief Editor of the Hind Samachar Group of Newspapers also sent a similar amount.

Mr Khurana said that while in the summers 'jal sewa' is performed in the winters Samiti activists serve medicines, fruits, bread and milk to poor patients at the local civil hospital.

UNI