Owing to his selfless service to humanity, retired divisional soil conservation officer Ujjal Singh is often referred to as Bhagat Puran Singh of Tanda.
With a zeal to serve distressed people, he set up a charitable trust in 1990 in the name of Bhai Ghanaiya Ji (the disciple of tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, who served the injured in the battlefield without any discrimination), with an anonymous donation of Rs 2,000.
Now it receives, on an average, donations worth Rs 10 lakh every year. The trust provides medical aid to the sick, helps the elderly, orphans and widows and contributes to relief operations in times of natural calamities.
At 83, Ujjal Singh is not in the best of his health but whenever he learns that his services are needed he is quick to respond. He wastes no time in reaching road accident sites and ensures that no one loses his life for lack of first aid. Owing to his sincere efforts, the trust runs three ambulances in Tanda area, of which two cater to accident victims and patients while the third is used for mobile medical services.
The seed of charity was sowed in Ujjal Singh’s heart right in his childhood by his grandparents. “They were always kind to others. They wanted the same quality of compassion in me,” says the 83-year-old philanthropist.
“My grandfather’s brother Dr Gurdit Singh got a well bored in Latholi village well before 1931, the year when I was born. In 1985, when I happened to pass by that village as a soil conservation officer, I located the well. People of the area told me that a gentleman from Moonak had given this gift to the villagers. I realised that good work makes a man immortal,” he adds.
{{/usCountry}}“My grandfather’s brother Dr Gurdit Singh got a well bored in Latholi village well before 1931, the year when I was born. In 1985, when I happened to pass by that village as a soil conservation officer, I located the well. People of the area told me that a gentleman from Moonak had given this gift to the villagers. I realised that good work makes a man immortal,” he adds.
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