– By Vinayak Barot
New Delhi: The grim story of the 27-year old Dhananjay Kumar and his pregnant wife Soni travelling over 1,200 kilometres on a two-wheeler from Jharkhand to Madhya Pradesh braving heavy rains and bumpy roads to appear for an examination for recruitment of teachers made the Adani Foundation to come to their aid.
Overwhelmed by the media reports over their ordeal, the Ahmedabad (Gujarat)-based Adani Foundation in a rare humanitarian gesture sponsored air tickets for the couple to make at least their return journey comfortable,
A resident of Jharkhand’s Ganta Tola village in Godda district, the couple travelled to Gwalior on a two-wheeler to fulfill Dhananjay’s dream to see his wife as a teacher. Himself a class eight drop-out, Dhananjay and Soni, married only in December, last year, had to mortgage her jewellery to raise about Rs 10,000 to travel to Gwalior.
About the help to the couple, the Chairperson of Adani Foundation Priti Adani said, “Dhananjay and Soni”s marathon travel was a journey of survival, resilience & great optimism. We @AdaniFoundation are humbled to arrange for their comfortable return journey to Godda & thankful to the local media for bringing this inspiring story to light,”
Dhananjay and Soni's marathon travel was a journey of survival, resilience & great optimism. We @AdaniFoundation are humbled to arrange for their comfortable return journey to Godda & thankful to the local media for bringing this inspiring story to light.https://t.co/CLfOVTLs26
— Priti Adani (@AdaniPriti) September 5, 2020
A thankful Dhananjay said on Sunday, “Adani Foundation has provided us with air tickets from Gwalior to Ranchi for September 16. Since there is no direct flight from Gwalior to Ranchi, we will reach there via Hyderabad and then we will reach to Godda district by road from Ranchi,”
He was also pleased that the Adani Foundation had also arranged to pick up the two-wheeler in which they travelled to Gwalior and send it to his home. “Adani Foundation will also arrange to send back my scooter on which we reached Gwalior. I also received a phone call from the district administration of Godda that they will arrange a vehicle once we reach Ranchi to take us home to Ganta Tola,” he said.
The Gwalior district administration had also supported the cause and arranged for their stay near the examination centre, their health check-up and had taken care of other minute details since they arrived there on August 30 to appear in the examinations that would continue till September 11. Despite the long journey, she was found healthy and was allowed to appear in the examinations being conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education.
After arrive in Gwalior, Soni said, “We faced a lot of trouble due to rains. I got a mild fever in route, but now everything is okay.”