Turning personal tragedy into a lifeline for the poor

A personal tragedy can often become the catalyst for positive action. Here is one such inspirational story of a village administrative officer, who became a force-for-good after he lost his brother and launched a free ambulance service in his memory

Durai Prithviraj can still recall the despair and helplessness that engulfed him when his younger brother met with a road accident in Madurai in 2011. His brother met an untimely end as an ambulance failed to reach the accident spot on time. Worse, Prithviraj struggled to find an ambulance or hearse to transport his brother’s mortal remains to his hometown of Aruppukottai in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu.

“It was too costly, making me wonder, ‘What can a poor person do [in such a situation],” he recounts.

The incident had a lasting impact on Prithviraj, who works as a village administrative officer.

Determined not to let his brother’s death go in vain, he spent the next eight years trying to build up his savings. Finally, by 2018, he had saved enough money to buy a second-hand van and convert it into an ambulance to serve the poor.

“For the past seven years, I’ve been serving people through this no-fee ambulance. The only payment we ask for is love, and that’s a fee everyone should pay,” says Prithviraj, who runs three free ambulances in his hometown today. In fact, his ambulances played a crucial role in saving lives and ferrying the deceased during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he even lent one ambulance to the Virudhunagar Medical College Hospital.

Prithviraj does not just provide free ambulance services though. Through Rajesh Udhavum Karangal, the non-profit that he founded in his brother’s memory, he also provides free meals to the underprivileged residents of Aruppukottai, feeding over 1.5 lakh people to date, besides adopting orphans and burying over 100 unclaimed bodies. Donations and minimal fees from those who can afford to pay for the ambulance service are his sources of funding.

“What medicines and doctors can't achieve, compassion and humanity can. Let's stand together and do our part for those in need,” he states emphatically, determined to do his bit to alleviate the suffering of the poor and needy.

Aditya Birla Group is happy to partner The Better India to amplify positive stories of people acting as #AForceForGood.