Meet the ‘Padman’ of Faridabad

Meet the ‘Padman’ of Faridabad — the 44-year-old Ajay Bahl.

The founder of Ek Sangharsh, a non-profit organisation, Bahl has engaged in humanitarian initiatives that focus on the betterment of poor and deprived communities, for several years now. He has also brightened up the lives of many children studying in government schools by providing them with stationery materials like notebooks, pens, pencils and schoolbags since 2007.

Bahl credits his mother, Chandrakanta, for instilling qualities like compassion and empathy for the underprivileged in him, which eventually led him to establish Ek Sangharsh.

He is a known RTI activist and his social organisation ‘Ek Sangharsh’ has launched a drive, Pink Health, under which it has distributed 40,000 sanitary napkins (pads) among girl students in Faridabad district since May 2018.

“Last year, I read somewhere that the use of unhygienic clothes by a village woman during her menstrual period resulted in infection and her death. This made me realise that a campaign to make sanitary napkins available even to the poorest of women and girls was the need of the hour. So, I took up the cause,” says Bahl, a resident of Sector 9 in Faridabad.

Bahl says that the demand of the product or service has been growing perhaps due to increased awareness and access to such products, which had no or low relevance till a few years ago. He adds that the concept of Bollywood film “Padman” that was released last year was historical. It created mass awareness and motivated people like him to join a movement that focuses on the health of common people.

Bahl is a graduate from Delhi University and a Central Government employee. He took up social service as a hobby. He says that while a majority of people go for hobbies that are personal in nature, he wanted to spend some time for the welfare of the underprivileged.

Funds have never been an issue, as a large number of people have been offering help for the cause. “I intend to distribute at least 3,000 napkins every month, especially in government schools,” he says. More than 5,000 students of government schools have been directly benefited by the installation of pads vending machines or free distribution of napkins in Faridabad district, he adds.

(Courtsey: The Tribube)