A Messiah For The Mentally-Challenged: Odisha's Bipin Panda And His Mission To Rescue The Unstable

By Badsah Jusman Kumar Rana

Sambalpur: When none paused to take a look at an disoriented man that scorching summer afternoon in Sambalpur's Hirakud area, Bipin Bihari Panda stopped. He tried to go close to the man who wore a disheveled look with unkempt hair and tattered clothes. He tried starting a conversation with the person and concluded that he was unstable, mentally. Without hesitation, he offered water to the man and the rest is history.

The incident that took place in 2015 defined Panda's life purpose. For over a decade now, the 57-year-old Hindalco employee, has been rescuing mentally-challenged people - so far about 600 - many of who were abandoned, forgotten, or lost. He not only takes care to send them to a rehabilitation centre but also ensures they are treated with dignity.

He also locates their families and sends them back after treatment. But between rescuing and uniting them with their family, he takes care of their health and hygiene, gives them bath, provides them a fresh pair of clothes to wear and ensures that their treatment is done.

His rescue work is not limited to Sambalpur only but he operates across the state spanning districts. But he says his friends stood by him and that helped him take up the mission in a big way.

"That 2015 incident was an eye-opener. Seeing the man in a bad state I sought help of some friends and rescued him. When he got back his sanity, we arranged to send him back to his home in Cuttack. Later, we got to know that he had not gone home for 14 years,” Bipin says expressing indebtedness to his friends.

Since some people raised doubts about his rescue mission, he decided to start his own voluntary organisation ‘Parichaya’ in 2019.

“It is not easy to rescue the mentally-challenged people because they can be aggressive. At times they try to run away or even hit us back. So a lot of precaution is taken while rescuing,” explains Panda on the challenges involved.

On a normal rescue attempt, he is accompanied by two to four volunteers. "We start a conversation, offer food and water to win their confidence and trust on us. There are times we have to use money to lure the person. After winning him over, we talk to him and find out his whereabouts, address and then begin the process of cure and send-off with the help of the Police and other district administration authorities," says Panda expressing regret about those who do not have home and are thus sent to shelters.

Earlier Panda used to get information about the people needing rescue from newspapers but now social media helps. For the dedicated work he does, Panda has been recognised by many institutions like the Red Cross, Sambalpur University and IMFA.

His childhood friend Sanjeev Kumar Mishra discloses, "Bipin attended to his paralysed father for about 10 years. After he died in 2014, a lot changed in his life and he started attending to the needs of the helpless.”

Bipin is well known in the administrative circles of Sambalpur. District Social Security Officer Soura Chandra Pani says, “Bipin is well-known as a man with a mission. People rescued by him are sent to shelters like Nilachal Seva Pratisthan in Puri, IIC Complex shelter in Sambalpur and Apna Ghar in Cuttack. He has been a big help for us and by heart, he is a gem.”

An instrument mechanic by profession, Bipin lives in the city with his wife, a son and a daughter who support his cause.

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