Messiah In Disguise: Madhya Pradesh's 'Moonwalk' Cop Helps COVID-19 Patients With Free Meals

This Indore traffic cop who made headlines in the past for his 'moonwalks' across the busy intersections, avoiding rickshaws and trucks in the centre of the city controlling the traffic, is now winning hearts for his kind service he does today.

Along with six to seven other traffic cops of Madhya Pradesh, Ranjeet is on a new mission to deliver free and nutritious food to the relatives of COVID-19 patients in the hospitals of the city as well as for those under home isolation.

Leading the group of blue-white uniformed Indore traffic policemen, Ranjeet along with his colleagues Bal Mukund, Ravi, Rajesh, Gajendra, Tara Chand and traffic police crane driver Munna Ansari, have been providing food to 250 family members and relatives of COVID-19 infected patients in six hospitals of Indore every day.

Ranjeet's team is speeding mobiles before and after their duty hours to deliver lunch and dinner packets at the doors of 45-plus home isolated patients. This also includes those people who do not receive any help from their relatives or neighbours.

"It all started 24 days back, during the auspicious Basantiya Navratra when I was headed to my station for duty. A female relative of a COVID-19 patient admitted at the MTH hospital adjoining our police station stopped me and told me that she was hungry. I first gave her money, but she showed me that she had enough money, but couldn't buy food due to lockdown," said Ranjeet, as reported by The New Indian Express.

"I gave her my tiffin, on seeing which around 15 attendants of other COVID-19 patients hurried towards me and sought food. I was helpless, but then I rang my colleagues and arranged food for them. This marked the beginning of our free food service to patients' attendants waiting outside hospitals," added Ranjeet.

Ranjeet's colleague and head constable Bal Mukund Swami said that every day, before and after their eight-hour traffic duty, they come to the traffic police station and cook nutritious food for the COVID-19 infected patients. "We currently offer lunch and dinner food packets to the home-isolated across Indore and food packets to patients' kin at DNS, MTH, MY, Laal and Government Super Specialty Hospitals," added Bal Mukund.

For this initiative, Ranjeet has pooled Rs 35,000 from his salary, while two senior traffic police officer ASP (Traffic) Ranjeet Singh Devke and Inspector Dilip Singh Parihar have contributed close to Rs 5,000 to this mission.

Apart from the traffic police personnel, several other people have also been funding and providing necessary resources to Ranjeet's kitchen. Private school teacher Anuj and businessman Sunny Ajmera have been funding food-grain and packing material for the kitchen.

"I've clearly told my social media followers and friends in Indore that this battle is not going to end with the current wave of in Indore. Our efforts will continue even after the lockdown is lifted," says Ranjeet.

Ranjeet and his team also added that they will continue supporting families affected by personal loss and income as well. His latest Avtar has given him the title of 'Annadata'.

"There was no one to render food to us, but for the last one week, the traffic police cops with the lunch-dinner packets at our doorstep have turned as Annadata for us," said an elderly couple from the Bengali Square. The couple was in home isolation with their son when Ranjeet and his team came to their rescue.

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