KARIMNAGAR: He is an IAS officer, working as the District Collector of Indore in Madhya Pradesh. However, his heart always pines for his native town of Ramagundam and the rest of the erstwhile Karimnagar district. As he had been through tough times in his childhood, Parikipandla Narahari wants to help as many people as he couldn’t see them suffer for want of money.
Narahari is said to be one of the designers of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, a Central government scheme to uplift girls with the help of education. In fact, the scheme happens to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s heart. A 2001-batch IAS officer, Narahari also received the Best Collector Award three times from the President of India.
He set up the Alaya Foundation in 2014 and ever since he has been serving the poor in erstwhile Karimnagar and Adilabad districts with volunteers, despite his busy schedule as the Indore Collector. The foundation serves the poor, youth, students and those who are physically challenged.
Alaya Foundation volunteer Gade Guna Sagar says, “The motivation to serve the poor and the needy came to Narahari from the tough life he had led when he was a child. His family used to be in a tight spot for money all the time and life has been an everyday ordeal for them. Despite odds, Narahari grew up to be what he is today. Now he is determined to do something for the less fortunate.”
Alaya Foundation now helps the physically challenged with ‘Jaipur legs’. As many as 300 differently-abled persons have so far benefited from the foundation. It provides wheelchairs for elderly persons and financial assistance to poor students. The foundation conducts medical camps now and then in the rural areas and encourages the youth to donate blood at blood donation camps.
The foundation has also branched out into helping students prepare for competitive examinations including the Civils. During the Covid-19 lockdown, the foundation supplied oxygen concentrators for Covid patients. About 5,000 sanitisers and masks had also been distributed by them. Now the foundation is looking beyond Adilabad and Karimnagar. It is making efforts to reach out to the poor and the needy in other districts also. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivaraj Singh Chouhan appreciated Narahari for his commitment to social service.