Delhi's Ambulance Hero Wins Padma Honour

From Covid crematoriums to Rashtrapati Bhavan, Jitender Singh Shunty's years of service have finally fetched him a national honour.

Transcript

00:00Music

00:13Shri Jitendra Singh Shanti, Samaj Seva

00:30Music

00:47We bring the body to the hospital and take it to the cremation ground.

00:51If someone has to keep the body for a couple of days,

00:54we give the body to the mortuary box free of cost.

00:57All the work is done free of cost.

01:09And then the body dies.

01:10And the body is left alone.

01:12The body is taken care of by a caretaker or a servant.

01:15His family is in London, Muscat, America, Toronto.

01:21I get a call from there.

01:23My mother and brother's body is lying there.

01:25Please get it cremated.

01:27There were people who were poor.

01:29They said, Shanti ji, we don't have any money.

01:31I used to say, get the body, I'll pay for it.

01:33I'll pay for all the expenses.

01:35Some bodies have been found without a heir.

01:37On the road, outside a house, at a bus stop.

01:42People have died of Corona.

01:45And some people have left the body outside the cremation ground.

01:48They haven't come back.

01:55My mother still picks up the body.

01:57She picks up a Hindu's body.

02:02It takes time to pack.

02:05To fill the form.

02:06And I feel thirsty.

02:08I can't open the door.

02:10I have gloves, a gown, a boot cover under my feet.

02:21I have tried everything, but if I don't survive, I can't do anything.

02:24I haven't gone home for a day.

02:25There's a parking, I'll go there, eat and sleep in the car.

02:40For the first time, old people were dying of Corona.

02:53Today, young people are dying.