KOCHI: Seventy-year-old Sreeman Narayanan, a resident of Muppathadam in Ernakulam district, is a man with a difference as far as his ideals are concerned. This Gandhian has undertaken the task of providing face masks to all residents of his village. He plans to distribute close to 20,000 reusable masks for free.
“While entire countries are struggling to come out of the grip of Covid-19, I cannot sit indoors without doing anything. Though the government has directed the public to wear facemasks, there are a few people who are not in a position to afford that also. From this fact, I decided to spend my time distributing facemasks to my village people free of cost. In the first phase, 5,000 masks will be distributed and in the coming days 20,000 masks will be distributed,” said Narayanan.
He has manufactured the masks with the help of small-scale women entrepreneurs across the district. “Approximately, Rs 2 lakh has to be spent on this project. Since I want to use this as an opportunity for some women entrepreneurs to earn some income during Covid spread, I asked them to make some masks. So far, they have made 5,000 masks,” he said. Interestingly, Narayanan used his hard-earned money for the implementation of the project just like how he spent Rs 7 lakh from his pocket before to distribute 10,000 earthen pots to people to provide water for birds during scorching summer.
“I am running a hotel and a lottery agency at Muppathadam. All three of my daughters are married and settled. Now, I don’t have to spend anything for my family. Even they also offered help for my projects. So, I am using the hard-earned money for my dreams,” said Narayanan. He has also distributed nearly 50,000 fruit saplings after spending Rs 15 lakh. He was also at the forefront of the fight against pollution in the Periyar river.