Bhoole Bhatke shivir reunites Bikaner woman with her group members in Prayagraj

PRAYAGRAJ: Bikaner based Ranjana Devi and her group members were quite anxious for hours after one of their member named as Guddi Devi got lost in Magh Mela campus who arrived from Bikaner (Rajasthan) to take holy dip on the occasion of Paush Purnima. However, when volunteers of Bhoole Bhatke Shivir reunited Guddi Devi with her group members, they had no words to express their feeling and thanked the volunteers for their noble job.
Guddi said, “Reunion of family is most pious work on the banks of Ganga and these volunteers who have been reuniting families are messengers of the gods. A group of 25 people from Bikaner, Rajasthan arrived tent city two days back to take holy dip and perform rituals.”
However, one woman member of group Guddi Devi got separated from group members near Sangam ghat circulating area and reached bhoole bhatke shivir. The group members narrated the sequence of event and briefed about the physique of missing member.
Armed with social media platforms and loudspeakers, the volunteers circulated information on their social media account and volunteers at different sectors and locations started looking for her. After a hard work of one and half hour, the volunteers managed to trace her wondering near pontoon bridge and handed over to the group members.
Ironically, a 80-year-old woman from Tikamgarh (Madhya Pradesh) was still not traceable despite sincere efforts whose family members kept on waiting at the camp of bhoole bhatke shivir. Continuing with the decades-old legacy, the volunteers of the Bhoole Bhatke Shivir, also known as Lost & Found camp, have started serving pilgrims with the beginning of the annual religious fair – Magh Mela on Friday.
Tiwari, organiser of the camp, told TOI that “ Energetic volunteers are all set to serve devotees and pilgrims and our theme was safe home return for all families and devotees who arrived for holy dips.We have reunited 23 lost people, majority of women, with their families and the number will increase till night hours. This Magh mela, we have called up local volunteers from Prayagraj and Pratapgarh only in view of the emerging Covid scenario and more volunteers from other districts and states would be called after January 14, if needed.”
Tiwari, meanwhile, said, a group of 20 active volunteers have joined and are performing their duties on mela campus from January 4 and would be staying camp till the last main snan of Mahashivratri on February 18. The volunteers of shivir have reunited over 25 lakh missing people with their families since the formation of the organisation, and every year. Tiwari, however, said we are also circulating details of missing people on social media platforms, and also formed groups on popular messaging apps to reunite families.