Hailing from Bhallegaon, a village in Tehri District in Uttarakhand Ganesh Bhatt, a 32-year-old was using his vehicle, Tata Nano as an emergency service after he learnt that ambulance drivers were scarce in the region. In 42 days, he took 62 people to the hospital, including pregnant women, elderly persons and children. Out of 62 cases, 51 contacted him through social media. Ganesh was actively posting on Facebook about his journeys so that more and more people in need could reach out to him. He was also providing medical supplies to elderly patients. When migrant workers started to walk back home, Ganesh dropped a few people to their villages and also made arrangements for them to rest overnight in his village.

Ganesh Bhatt, a resident of the village Bhallegoan, District Tehri Garhwal stands for a portrait next to his Tata Nano car. One resident of the village called the car, "the lifeline of their region". During the lockdown period, Ganesh turned his car into an emergency vehicle carrying patients to the hospital, helping the elderly with ration and medical supplies and at times, dropping walking migrant workers to their respective villages.

During Janta Curfew starting March 22, the National Highway 58 ( NH-58) a 538 km long road running across three states; Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand was closed, with no public or private passenger vehicle running at that time. Ganesh’s car was on the road making 2-4 trips a day for 42 days, sometimes at night too. The nearest hospital from Bhallegaon is 20kms.

NH-58 National Highway goes through Ganesh’s village Bhallegaon in Tehri District. This particular highway connects the hilly region with the rest of the country, bringing livelihood to people as many popular tourist and pilgrim destinations are on this highway. Also, people living in the far remote villages, where the roads haven’t reached yet, are dependent on this highway for all basic needs as well all kinds of emergencies including medical.

Bhallegaon is a small roadside village in Tehri District, Uttarakhand with 100 houses, six education institutes including; primary, secondary, higher secondary, inter-college, polytechnic and one private school and one primary health centre. In the village, most of the people earn their livelihoods either through shops or hotels or farming or construction work. Ganesh has been born and raised in Bhallegaon.

“It seemed only my car was running on the road at that time”, Ganesh recalls. According to Jyoti Bangwal, who runs a roadside restaurant in Bhallegaon recalls, “those days, people were too scared to even step outside their homes, people dreaded going to hospitals or coming in contact with anyone who had any kind of sickness. There are more than 20-25 cars in our village but nobody wanted to take the risk.”

According to Sandeep, another resident of Bhallegaon, “Some didn’t want to go cause they thought police might bother them, as they didn’t have proper vehicle papers.”

Around 30 years back, Arun was hired by BRO (Border Roads Organisation) as a construction worker along with other people from Jharkhand and were brought to Bhallegaon while the highway was being constructed. Arun said he doesn’t know where the others are, but he stayed.

For years, he did many small jobs in the village and earned for himself until 2017, when he slipped from a bamboo ladder and got injured. Since then, he walks with a stick and is unable to earn any livelihood. According to Ganesh, Arun is in need of a knee transplant surgery as per the diagnosis of a doctor in the hospital in Srinagar, Uttrakhand. However, at the moment, Arun has neither any savings or a way to earn a living.

During Janta Curfew, Arun had a fall again and was in extreme pain, it is when he asked his neighbours to contact Ganesh. Ganesh took Arun to the hospital in Srinagar (20kms away) in his Tata Nano car on 6th April. Arun lives by himself. Since his accident, he mostly gets help from his neighbours and at times, from Ganesh with monthly ration and medical supplies.

Poonam Devi (23 years old), with her baby girl, outside her house in Bhallegaon, Tehri District, Uttarakhand. During Janta curfew on April 28th, Poonam was taken to Srikot hospital (23kms) in an emergency by Ganesh in his Tata Nano Car.

According to Poonam, her husband had called few other people, but most of them refused, saying either they didn’t have the permission to go or were scared as they didn’t have proper papers of the vehicle. Poonam was 7 months pregnant at that time.

On 30th March morning, their 15-year-old son was taken to the hospital in Srinagar by Ganesh in his TATA Nano car. Ganga Devi said, “Suddenly the previous night, our son complained of chest pain, we waited until morning and then called Ganesh ji. Our son is a heart patient and has already undergone surgery in 2015. We were scared.” Meharban said he had got to know about Ganesh’s initiative through Facebook.

This year during Janta Curfew, Meharban lost his job at a local restaurant as a helper in the kitchen which would bring earning of 6-7 thousand rupees per month.

Babita Devi ( 35 ) outside her home in Badoli village in Tehri District, Uttarakhand. On 26th April, Babita was taken to the hospital in Srinagar ( 24 kms away ) by Ganesh in his TATA Nano car after Babita had injured her foot. Ganesh recalled “it was Sunday and there was no doctor at emergency, then I posted a message on Facebook.

After sometime few local journalists reached the hospital and then they were the ones who called the doctor. There was no electricity, the generator was arranged and finally X - ray was done”. Babita’s house is around 500 m from the main road. On that day, 2 people along with Ganesh helped carrying Babita to the main road, where the car was parked.

On top of the hill, in the photograph, there is a village called Dharmkot, as seen from Badoli village, Tehri District, Uttrakhand. During Janta Curfew in April, a woman named Sushma Devi, 45 years old, fell from a tree, while collecting woods in the forest, and injured her arm.

At that time, her only son, Rajendra Singh was in Delhi, was unable to come as State borders were closed. That is when he reached out to Ganesh through Facebook and asked for his help. Next morning, Sushma Devi walked along with her nephew around 1.5 km from her house to the motorable road, where Ganesh was waiting. Since her accident, Sushma Devi has been driven by Ganesh to the hospital for treatment three times.

On March 16th, a few days before the lockdown, Prem met with an accident while travelling on a loaded truck. He was immediately taken to the hospital in Srinagar by Ganesh in his car. Prem describes his current situation, “My neighbours leave this little baby goat with me, tied to my cot, knowing that it is safe here!” At the moment, Prem can barely walk, he had to undergo surgery. Until now he was the only bread earner in his family, now his wife Guddi sells cow milk and does small jobs to feed her family of 5 members.

Sandeep was one of the first people to join Ganesh in his initiative to help people with medical emergencies. Considering the tough terrain of the region and inaccessibility to the road, often Ganesh would need extra hands to help, lifting patients and bringing them to the main road. Sandeep said, “Ganesh bhai’s love for the mountains and his courage to help people, has drawn me to join hands with him. My wife was pregnant at the time and needed to be taken for an ultrasound, it's when I called Ganesh Bhai, as I didn't have a car. And he immediately came to help!”

Sandeep has a roadside restaurant which has been non-functional since March 22, 2020. Before the lockdown, he would earn between 15k-20k a month depending on the tourist season. He had taken a loan of worth Rupees 10 lakh to make the restaurant and is still remaining to give. With rising interest and no income, he fears he might have to sell off the place.

Currently, Sandeep is also fighting another battle with some other young people from his village against the Stone Crushing company. He fears that if the stone crusher starts he might lose his farmland, he won’t be able to grow anything due to dust pollution, the crusher creates. He along with other people have been on a sit-in protest for more than a month now and soon might go into a hunger strike if there are no steps taken.

Govind is one of the people, who came forward to pay a portion of the instalment for Ganesh’s car when the bank recently had come to take his car away due to non-payment of the instalment. Govind described that afternoon, "I was standing with Ganesh in the marketplace; when two men came from the bank to take away the car. I requested them to give us 5 days to pay, but they stringently refused. Then I gave 14 thousand rupees to Ganesh and asked him to pay the bank." That money Govind gave, was saved by him to buy a scooty for his family.

Govind's hotel was demolished as part of the widening of road for the All Weather Char Dham Road Project last year in November. There were 14 rooms in the hotel and Govind would earn 15-20 k a month. His brother would live on the first floor of the hotel. Govind has been given a compensation of 5 lakh rupees by the government. However, he says, "How one can start a hotel with just Rupees 5 lakhs in today's times? I have filed an appeal at District court, now waiting to hear from them.”

Dharam is one of the people, who came forward to pay a portion of the installment for Ganesh’s car when two men from the bank had come to take the car away due to non-payment of the installment. However, for Dharam, it is just not any car!

He added, "there are millions and billions of cars, but this one is not among them. It has saved so many lives, 24,000 is nothing for it! When those men were taking the car away, I was standing at my shop only. I was feeling as if my life was being taken away. I could even see tears in Ganesh Bhai’s eyes, the car is like his family member. It is our pride. If we don’t see this car standing in the market for a few days, something feels incomplete".

Ganesh paid 11,000 rupees to those men from the bank that afternoon. For Dharam Singh, Ganesh is their hero. He says, “he might not have money to pay the bank, but he has certainly earned people through his actions, and as we all know, people who are poor, are generally the ones who always are at true service of people.”

Dr. Lokesh Saluja at Government Combined Hospital, Srinagar, Pauri District Uttarakhand. Dr.Saluja remembers one critical case brought in by Ganesh, "A young man in his 20s was paralysed, with no lower limbs. He had no motion for a week. His abdomen was distended and required urgent treatment. Me and Ganesh must have removed 1-2 kg of faeces from his body.”

In support of Ganesh’s initiative, the Doctor said, “When I saw Ganesh consecutively with 4-5 patients, I wondered, how could anyone be related to so many patients! And then, he told me that he is providing this service free of cost. Patients were very needy at that time, therefore this kind of service was a big relief for many people''. Doctor Garima did recall many patients who were coming to her clinic from far off places, booking taxis worth more than 1-2 thousand rupees during those days.

Ganesh started two computer centres; one in 2008 and another one in 2010, to provide young students with computer education. He had taken a loan to start his business and also a loan for the car. During the lockdown, he had to sell most of the computers. Eventually, closed down both the centres as no students were coming. He was unable to afford the rent.

Ganesh explained, “In case if tomorrow there is any legal inquiry, I want to make sure I have proper documentation of all the cases. Also, I wanted to post them on Social Media, so that more people in need could reach out.” Out of 62 cases, 51 got in touch with Ganesh through social media, mostly Facebook.

Ganesh Bhatt’s first post on Facebook on March 23, about his initiative; urging others to join him. Ganesh explained, “In case if tomorrow there is any legal inquiry, I want to make sure I have proper documentation of all the cases. Also, I wanted to post them on Social Media, so that more people in need could reach out.” Out of 62 cases, 51 got in touch with Ganesh through social media, mostly Facebook.

Ganesh says, “Now everybody seems to know my car, even the local policemen. There is only one such blue TATA Nano car in this area. People wave or at times honk when they pass by, while I am driving. People can recognise it.”