WEST BENGAL: Helping the poor is a like therapy for Rama Prasad Roy, resident of Dum Dum in the bustling city of Kolkata. A former assistant general manager at the State Bank of India, the values inculcated in him by his family during childhood affected Roy in the best way possible.
As someone who has believed in helping the underprivileged and downtrodden ever since he was a child, it comes as no surprise that the sextagenerian has gone the extra mile to offer the poor a helping hand whenever he is able.
But how did it all begin? “It was in 2012 that I started helping out the destitute, providing whatever financial help I could. I identified around 50 such people in Barasat’s Maslandapur in North 24 Parganas district and provided them with items of daily use, garments, dry food items, pencils and erasers. It meant a lot to them, as they couldn’t afford it,” he says.
When Roy paid a visit to a sports academy in Namkhana in South 24 Parganas and saw that the kids playing football there did not have the money to buy jerseys and shoes, he didn’t think twice before chipping in. He bought the items for those children. “They were elated to receive my goodies,” Roy recalls with an air of humility.
When the Covid pandemic struck, he made a beeline for one village after another to distribute food items and goodies among the needy. He also provided monetary assistance to the underprivileged in those trying times.
But reaching out to those from the lower strata of society is no mean feat. “One challenge I face when I visit a village is identifying the poorest of the poor,” he explains. So, he usually enlists the help of locals to identify who needs his help the most.
The list of Roy’s good deeds goes on and on. He once donated Rs 10,000 to a football academy in Namkhana when their students fell ill after consuming arsenic-prone water. A proud Roy shares, “I had a water purifier installed so that they could get arsenic-free water.”
He also helped out students living in his vicinity whose parents could not fulfil their needs. He smiles with pride as he shares that those students grew up to land stable jobs. “There is no joy greater than seeing a child grow up and settle down in life. I am glad that I could help them achieve success,” Roy muses.
Rama Prasad Roy, who vows to continue helping the poor till his last breath, is planning to help underprivileged people in Santhali next.
Humble as he is, Roy shrugs off praise for his contribution to society, saying, “It is my duty as a human being to help the needy.”