City businessmen offer help to rickshaw puller who tried to stop Jama Masjid attackers

Manna and money for braveheart

City businessmen offer help to rickshaw puller who tried to stop Jama Masjid attackers

Helping hands: Pawan Kumar(left) and Paramjeet Singh Pamma(right) want to felicitate Saleem for his bravery. Pic/Mid Day

But the gesture of some city businessmen towards the rickshaw puller, who tried to prevent the shooters at Jama Masjid from escaping by hurling stones at them, would provide him some succour.

The Bihari, who is struggling to make ends meet and arranging for money to get his wife treated of Tuberculosis, has been offered help by businessmen from across the city.

Some of them have offered to buy him a rickshaw so that he doesn't have to give Rs 50 each day as rent to the contractor. Some also called MiD DAY, expressing their desire to help Saleem.
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The rickshaw puller had said too much media attention ruined him as he could not get any customers as he was the eyewitness.

"They came with cameras and notebooks, but nobody even asked me whether I had lunch. I could not even earn my lunch," he had said.

Yaspal Bansal, a steel trader from west Delhi, said he will give some cash to Saleem for the treatment of the latter's wife.

"I would like to donate a specific amount towards the treatment of his wife each month. I would meet the rickshaw contractor in this regard," Bansal told MiD DAY.

u00a0Pawan Kumar, president of Sadar Bazar Barri Market Association, said he will felicitate Saleem for his courageous act. He said a cash reward will also be given to him.

"We will give Saleem some cash. Businessmen of Sadar Bazar have approached us in this regard. I have had a meeting with them after they got to know about his plight from the story in MiD DAY. We would be more than happy to do something for the poor rickshaw puller and his family," Kumar said.u00a0

Vice-chairman of the association Paramjeet Singh Pamma said he is going to convene a meeting to organise a programme for Saleem.

"We thought he had been given awards by NGOs and the government but we came to know that nothing has been done for him. We were amazed when we read he could not meet his family," said Pamma.

He said the Sadar Bazar traders were thinking of gifting Saleem a rickshaw so he could save some money.

Chairman of Anti-Terrorist Front (ATF) Maninderjit Singh Bitta also came forward to help Saleem after reading about him in MiD DAY.

ATF spokesperson Parag Jain called up MiD DAY and said that the organisation would give Saleem a cash prize of Rs 25,000.u00a0

"We will reward him and will give him a memento of Brave Son of India. We are going to organise a function in this connection at Triveni Sabhagar," said Jain.u00a0

Saleem ko salaam

Mohammad Saleem was around when foreign tourists were shot at near Jama Masjid gate number 3 on Sunday.

Showing exemplary courage and not even caring about the guns that the attackers held, Saleem had tried to stop them from fleeing. He hurled stones at them while a constable posted at the Jama Masjid gate gave them a futile chase. His story was flashed across news channels and the newspapers splashed him on front pages. He was the hero of the hour. But that was on Sunday. On Monday morning when Saleem took his rickshaw out from the stand near Jama Masjid and went to the streets, he was in for a rude shock.

No one was interested in taking a ride on his rickshaw for fear of being 'targeted'.

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