To the poor in Punjab, their affluent brethren lend helping hand

It is typical of the life of a poor homeless family, be it in Punjab or in north Karnataka.

But, this new year, such families in Punjab will have a reason to celebrate. And the celebration will be profound, for many of them will get a sweet built-up houses to stay in for the rest of their life, all free of cost. Sample this: A group of spirited NRIs from Punjab, who have been silently nurturing a dream of a house each for the homeless poor in the State at zero cost, will hand over small houses to the poor around the New Year.  There have been such philanthropic gestures by a few NRIs in the past, the mission now got a fillip with the UK’s Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Football Club’s supporter group, Punjabi Wolves , joining hands for this task back on home turf.

To begin with, Punjabi Wolves has pledged over three dozen free houses, all one-room-plus apartments, for the poor in village Rehana Kalan in Hoshiarpur district. The work, which started a couple of months ago, is fast nearing completion.

Unlike official projects, marred by persistent delays, the beneficiaries, identified by the village chief under the initiative, would get the built-up structures soon, Raj Bains of Punjabi Wolves told Deccan Herald over phone from the UK. Part of the task is also to furnish the houses with cots, mattress, blankets, utensils and other household material wherever needed.  The houses will have solar lighting. For Punjabi Wolves, the project has started to turn real because of a corpus of funds these NRIs managed to create from their pay cheques and donations in the name of charity. Punjabi Wolves have raised over 115,000 Pounds in three years of charity events in the UK. “We have just begun and hope this task gains momentum. We intend to take the project to a bigger scale in other parts of the State to help the poor,” Bains said. 

The group is spending nearly Rs three lakh on each house. The Punjabi Wolves’ initiative could be an example to emulate for the Karnataka Government, which has been facing charges of failure to provide decent accommodation for thousands of families devastated by 2009 October floods, many of whom are still living in thatched hut or tin sheds braving blazing sun, lashing rain and biting cold. The group could also serve as an inspiration to the Kannadiga diaspora all over the world.

Wolves admits its inspiration to build houses for the poor came from philanthropic big brother S S Nijjar, who had already made over 1,500 houses for the poor in various parts of Punjab. Nijjar is based in Birmingham in the UK, runs a construction company and each year spends a part of his earnings in such works, his spokesperson in India Malkit Singh said.  Nijjar’s initiative helped about 100 victim families of the 1984 riots to get houses in a village near Hazoor Sahib in Maharashtra.

“Punjabi Wolves first approached Nijjar with the charity amount to build houses. But Nijjar wanted the group members to get themselves fully involved in the task. The group members left for the UK this week when the four walls were built,” Malkit Singh said. Sarpanch Sita Devi said there are certain settlements in the village have been in a state of neglect for long. “Some don’t have houses and many existing buildings are in a dilapidated state. This gesture will do a lot good. The work is underway and the beneficiaries are happy with what's coming their way,” she said. 

The foundation stone for the first set of houses was laid by Nijjar, who pioneered this noble concept of houses for homeless in Punjab. Punjabi Wolves are a UK registered charity and since 2007 have held three mega  events raising charities for Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Compton Hospice, Macmillan Cancer, Wolves Community Trust, West Park Rehabilitation Hospital.  Punjabi Wolves members who travelled to India for this housing project were Andy Sahota, Jaswant Sidhu, Pete Bassi, Raj Bains, Kam Mahal, Richard Atwal and Jatender Heer.