Meet A Kiran, a petrol bunk worker selflessly helping those in need
A Kiran, a service attendant at a petrol bunk in Bengaluru, is in the news for all the right reasons. Going all out to help the people around him, he assists the victims of road accidents with first aid, installs warning signs, fixes streetlights, and fills potholes in the Bull Temple road area. While all of us are busy with our own lives, Kiran is doing his part to make his city a safer place.
Kiran's father is a farmer from Anegola village, Mandya district. Although he was initially unaware about first-aid procedures, he used the training in various safety regulations at his workplace to help the customers that visit the bunk. He is a BCom graduate from APS Evening college, who earns around Rs 10,000 a month. For his work, he was nominated for the 'Rising Star Award' at the Namma Bengaluru awards last year. He has never expected any support from his employer or the government and everything he has done has been on his own time and with his own money.
In a chat with The News Minute, Kiran said,
This spot used to see a lot of accidents. My colleagues and I would often go help people who got into an accident there, give them first aid, take their damaged vehicles to the nearby garage and even take people to nearby Shekhar hospital if they had suffered more serious injuries. We were doing all this, but I felt we should put a full stop to this wave of accidents.
In September 2015, Kiran visited the Chamrajpet Police Station while the bunk was closed on account of the Karnataka bandh. He carried along a lot of photographs of accidents and requested the police to provide him with a signboard. Spending for it all by himself, he installed the signboard immediately.
"Since then, that spot has become a zero-accident spot. Since then, no vehicles have climbed onto the median," he says. He is rewarded only with thanks by the strangers he helps and he is very humble about that fact. He told The News Minute,
That so many people got saved because I skipped dinner one day gives me so much joy. Since I did that, so many people have come to thank me for doing something when the authorities didn’t. That appreciation has motivated me to do more.
Furthermore, Kiran arranged for a safety team of six colleagues from the bunk and he plans to implement various safety regulations in the nearby areas of Bull Temple road. Together, they plan to tackle safety hazards in all the neighbouring areas in a systematic manner.
If we refuse to help strangers today when we have the chance, what right do we have to ask them for help should we need it tomorrow?
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