At a time when the bureaucrats, in general, are looked down upon as hardened machines, shorn of the milk of humane sensitivity for others, an IAS C Ravishankar based in Dehradun has proven by his personal conduct that softer feelings for the suffering of others are still flowing through their hearts despite they being bogged in administrative chicanery.
While presiding over a meeting in his Dehradun office last week, Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) MD C Ravishankar received a call, informing him that one Suraj, who was employed on daily wage, has accidentally fallen from the roof of GMVN guest house at Badrinath. The caller further told him that he would not survive, given his critical condition, unless he was rushed to the higher medical centre.
Worried, he immediately called up additional chief secretary Rakesh Sharma, requesting him to ensure that the injured be airlifted. However, failing to focus himself on the meeting, he postponed it half-way.
He rushed to ACS Sharma's chamber and heaved a sigh of relief after being informed that a chopper had already been dispatched to airlift the injured. Meanwhile, GMVN guest house officials made all other logistic arrangements to ensure that Suraj was brought to Dehradun. He was later referred to Jolly Grant Hospital.
Inspired by the humane attributes of the boss taking personal care for the well-being of a stranger, GMVN officials sprang to their feet and took every care that he was brought to the hospital on time.Currently, Suraj is fighting for his life as the doctors attending him said that his condition was critical.
"Such a humane gesture when the finer sensitivity and empathy for the fellow beings are waning under the pressure of the utilitarianism must be lauded by one and all. We are still surviving as a race because of the presence of such human beings who are sensitivity incarnate. If we can imbibe even a little of such empathy bureaucracy would be rid of the sticky stigma of insensitivity and would gain confidence of the people at large to serve whom we are here," said another IAS based in Dehradun.
Talking to The Pioneer, Ravishankar, who is currently in Tamil Nadu on leave, said that Suraj is a daily wage earner and the accident had occurred last week. As per the doctor attending Suraj, he has been shifted to general ward from ICU after a few surgeries. He is improving now, he added. He would have died had he not been brought on time, he further said.