Bipin Ganatra

Bipin Ganatra (born 1950) is an electrician in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He is also an unofficial volunteer firefighter and was awarded the Padma Shri in 2017 for helping fight fires in the city.

Inspiration

As a child Ganatra would rush after fire engines when he heard them and would start helping the firemen when he reached the scene of the fire. In 1982 Ganatra, then only 12 years old, lost his elder brother Narendra to a freak fire accident which occurred when a spark fell on fuel that his brother was handling while working on a motorcycle. His brother was admitted to hospital for many months but finally succumbed to his injuries.

Once when he was working as a mechanic in a school, he received information that a large bank was on fire. He helped carry water pipes from a nearby pond to the scene of the fire. The bank manager came running out of the building, stopped, remembered something he had left, and went back into the building and never returned. This tragic visual inspired Ganatra to continue on his approach.

Life

Ganatra, originally from Gujarat, has been offering his services as a fireman in the city of Kolkata where a total of 347 people died and 1,749 were injured in some 2,000 fires in 2014. He is an electrician by trade and earns a meager salary, borrowing from his friends to make ends meet. He also helps the police manage traffic.

Ganatra does not have any formal training with regards to firefighting. He started out by helping firefighters do odd jobs but now has risen to the level of a professional firefighter. Over 40 years, Ganatra has assisted in more than 100 fires, working to put out the flames, rescue victims, and clean up the scene. Ganatra monitors the television news constantly and informs the fire department if a fire breaks out. Despite his contributions to the force he travels to the site by himself using public transport. In recognition of his efforts, the fire department has given him a rare steel volunteer card and a khaki uniform.