Vanapalli Ravi Kumar, TDP Corporator of the 31st Ward in the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), died battling COVID-19, at a private hospital here on Monday.
Ravi Kumar is survived by his wife Gayatri and son Sai Raghav Sashank, who is a software engineer. He served the poor through Sai Pooja Foundation as its chairman and through Satya Prasanna Charitable Trust.
CPI State assistant secretary J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy expressed grief at the passing away of Ravi Kumar saying that a good Samaritan, who had fed the poor and the needy on the streets, was no more.
Visakhapatnam Cooperative Bank Limited Chairman Ch. Raghavendra Rao, CPI corporator A.J. Stalin, CPI city secretary M. Pydiraju and AP Mahila Samakhya district president A. Vimala paid tributes and expressed their condolences to the bereaved family members.
Ravi Kumar had given a decent burial to several unclaimed bodies, including those of beggars and deserted persons, for about a decade from 2011. There were times when he and team of volunteers had to literally carry the bodies, which were in a highly decomposed condition.
Through his Sai Pooja Foundation and Satya Prasanna Charitable Trust, he used to feed about 500 beggars on Sundays besides organising free medical camps for the poor with his own money and contributions from his friends.
