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For the last four months, police constable Mahinur Khatun, 37, has been going beyond her call of duty to serve her community in West Bengal\u2019s East Burdwan district. She grew up in the neighbourhood of Khagragarh in Burdwan and hers is a rare success story here. Most of her neighbours are daily wage labourers, rickshaw pullers, housemaids or street vendors. Khatun\u2019s mother sold paper bags to shops; her father was a truck driver.<\/p>\n
During the lockdown, as Khatun did her rounds to enforce the government\u2019s stay-at-home rules and social distancing norms, she saw first-hand the economic devastation in her neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople were going door-to-door asking each other for potatoes or rice. In all my 12 years of patrolling, I had never seen things being so bad. Until recently, they had jobs and incomes,\u201d Khatun said. \u201cIt broke my heart. When everyone is poor in a neighbourhood, who will take care of whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch | HT Salutes: Burdwan cop who turned messiah to help the needy with ration <\/b><\/p>\n
Khatun supports herself, her parents and her 19-year old son on a salary of Rs 40,000. She had been saving up for cardiac bypass surgery for her father, Masud Choudhury, 70. \u201cIn April, with things in Khagragarh were getting worse, I asked my father if we could use that money to help people. He agreed,\u201d Khatun said.<\/p>\n
The policewoman began to put together ration packages of oil, rice, flour, lentils, onions and potatoes, which she distributed with the help of her family, weekly or fortnightly.<\/p>\n
By April 20, she had spent most of the Rs 2 lakh that she had saved up. But by then word had spread; others began to donate money and supplies, and the crowdfunding platform Milaap got in touch, asking if they could help her launch a campaign on the site.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we heard about her father, we offered to help raise funds for his treatment. She, however, insisted that the collective need of these families was much bigger than her own,\u201d says Mayukh Choudhury, CEO and co-founder of Milaap. \u201cWe plan to help her set up a campaign for her father at a later date, as and when she needs it. Meanwhile, the response to the campaign has been wonderful to see.\u201d<\/p>\n