Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
4,000km journey on foot to spread information on health schemes
THANE: Fifty one-year-old Ghanashyam Kelkar, who is on a 4,000km journey on foot from Baramati, reached Thane on Thursday.
He walks 20km daily, has covered more than 3,400km and around 600km is remaining. He began his journey at Raigad Fort and has covered villages in Raigad, Satara, Kolhapur, Solapur, Sangli, Usmanabad, Nanded, Yavatmal, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Nagpur, Vardha, Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Jalgaon, Dhule, Nandurbar, Nasik, Palghar and Thane. He will proceed to Mumbai, Pune and then end his journey at Shivneri Fort.
Having started his walk in October 2020, he sensitises people on different government and insurance schemes that they could avail to get better healthcare for their medical needs. He has also formed support groups in villages wherein those in need of medical help could reach out to support groups.
Kelkar resigned from his marketing job in September 2020, after looking at several social health issues faced by the people around him and decided to reach out to them. His main aim was to help those from the under privileged sections and ensure that there was some way they could avail of healthcare insurance schemes. He formed the support group in every village he stopped by.
He said, “I have seen several families destroyed in the pandemic. Some people lost all their savings and took heavy loans to save one member of their family. A few have mortgaged their homes, these are the people who survive on daily wages and have no savings. This is happening as people are not aware of most government schemes and health insurance policies. Most of them go for private health insurance policies. The government has failed to educate people on most of their schemes.”
He takes help from the sarpanch of a village for his stay and food as his journey is on minimum budget. Owing to his social work, many NGOs help in. “I wait in the villages for the night and talk to people about their health issues. I inform them about how some of the government schemes can help them save money for emergencies. I also give them information about some trust who work to reach out to the people. We then form a group of educated individuals in the village as a support group whom the villagers can approach for help,” he said. Kelkar kept all his savings for his family – wife, son and mother since he left his home in Baramati. He said, “I have got very good responses from people and most of them join their hands in this journey to help people for better health. I request the Maharashtra government to start some scheme like the Rajasthan government did, giving ₹5 lakh insurance by paying annual insurance of ₹850.”