Hatadihi: Maa Tarini Seva Sansthan and its founder Umakanta Rout have become household names in this block in Keonjhar district.
A believer in ‘Service to mankind is service to God’, Umakanta devotes his free time for the cause of society and environment. Now he has over 150 like-minded youths to support him.
An altruist, Umakanta says had he not come across an aged man in worn-out clothes crawling on the road there would not have had Maa Tarini Seva Sansthan. “I could not believe myself that people are living such a wretched life. On that day itself I made up my mind to do something for these people. And the result is Maa Tarini Seva Sansthan.”
“One cannot feel the joy of giving unless they give something to others. These days, youths are running after jobs. Once settled, they keep themselves in their office work and family life so busy that they unknowingly keep themselves distracted from such benevolent works. It is pathetic,” he observes.
So far Maa Tarini Seva Sansthan has taken more than 200 poor and helpless people to hospitals in Anandapur, Keonjhar, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar for their treatment. And these people are now living a happy life.
This apart, Umakanta and his team have been taking steps to maintain greenery in the nearby villages. “We are, sometimes knowingly and sometimes unknowingly, polluting the environment where we are living. And if it goes on, what would be of our posterity,” he asks.
For a plastic free and green society, he and his team have been taking up various activities like planting saplings and creating awareness among people about the harmful impact of plastic on environment. They are involving more and more students from schools and colleges in planting saplings, and for this, they keep visiting schools and colleges.
So far over 200 saplings planted by them and students have already grown into young plants. “All these trees are umbrageous. Once they become fully grown-up trees, their canopies would not only provide shade, they would help maintain the environment,” observes Umakanta.
Besides, the members of Maa Tarini Seva Sansthan make it a mental note to donate blood.
A postal department employee, Umakanta says he has not received a single pie from any government organisation. “To fund the various steps, we make a pool of fund through our own contribution. With whatever we could arrange we go on accomplishing our targeted jobs,” he adds.
Twenty-six-year-old Umakanta, son of Krushnachandra Rout of Sulana village in Hatadihi block, completed his graduation in Commerce stream from BNMA College in Bhadrak and then joined the postal department in 2014 and has since been serving there.
While the members have become the toast of the Hatadihi, their social services have earned them plenty of appreciations and accolades from various district level as well as state-level organisations.
PNN