MANGALURU: Charmady Hasanabba, 73, has been chosen for this year’s Kannada Rajyotsava Award in the social service category for saving the lives of many victims of road accidents on NH 73 (Charmady Ghat road) on Dakshina Kannada-Chikkamagaluru border.
Hasanabba opened an eatery at Charmady village on the highway in 1971. For the first few years, he was reluctant to help the accident victims as he did not want to get involved in police cases.
However, seeing the sufferings of the victims and traffic jams due to frequent accidents, he changed his mind. “I have not kept the count of people I had shifted to hospitals from the accident spots. It wouldn’t be less than 1,000,” Hasanabba said.
Ghat road prone to accidents
Till a decade ago, the police allowed him to conduct the spot mahajar of the accident vehicles to avoid traffic jams on the narrow stretch of this highway at Charmady. “It would take at least four hours for the police to reach the accident spots on this stretch, when there were no mobile phones. So, I used to conduct the mahajar of accident vehicles and help clear them from the highway. The police encouraged me to do so,” he said.
This 25-km ghat road between Kottigehaara in Chikkamagaluru district and Charmady in Dakshina Kannada district is prone to accidents. Hasanabba gets a call if there is an accident on this stretch. He immediately rushes to the spot in his car with a couple of people and shifts the accident victims to hospitals.
When B Sriramulu was health minister, Hasanabba got a call from him stating that he will be provided with an ambulance. But Hasanabba refused to take it stating that he derives satisfaction from serving people with his own resources.