Paramjit Singh Pammi, a scooter mechanic here, has been chosen to be honoured with ‘Bhagat Puran Singh award for service to humanity’ for helping hundreds of road accident victims reach hospital and saving their lives. The award is given by the Gurdwara Godri Sahib Baba Farid Society, Faridkot, and the Tilla Baba Farid Religious and Charitable Society, Faridkot.
Pammi runs his scooter repair workshop on a major district road, MDR 32, near the College Ground here, which is an accident- prone area.
Pammi made up his mind to help out accident victims after he lost his brother, Darshan Singh, a Punjab police employee, in a road accident in 1999. He had died as he remained unattended on the road for the entire night.
Pammi is known for his services to accident victims in the city and the villages around. He arranges vehicles for victims from his taxi driver friends when he receives a call for help even if the site of the accident is a few kilometers from his shop. He was also honoured by then sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Poonamdeep Kaur for his services at a function on Independence Day a few years ago and also by a number of local NGOs at various times.
Inderjit Singh Sekhon, president of the society, said Pammi has saved over 400 road accident victims over a period of around 20 years. A team of the society verified the facts and invited him for the state-level function at Faridkot on September 23 where he will be honoured with a saropa, a citation and Rs 1 lakh.
"Thankfully, the traffic police have created a permanent check post on this accident-prone site and the number of accidents on this site has decreased during the last two months," said Pammi. He said earlier, he used to face a lot of harassment by the police in the name of verification and other formalities when he took victims to hospital. But, now things have changed, he said.
{{/usCountry}}"Thankfully, the traffic police have created a permanent check post on this accident-prone site and the number of accidents on this site has decreased during the last two months," said Pammi. He said earlier, he used to face a lot of harassment by the police in the name of verification and other formalities when he took victims to hospital. But, now things have changed, he said.
{{/usCountry}}He also remembered some cases when he could not save the victims despite his help. He appealed to the citizens to avoid overspeeding and drunken driving.