NRI on mission to provide pucca houses to needy people

In 2008, NRI Virinder Parihar, who was living in the US for more than 25 years, returned home to look after his ancestral property – 60 acres of farmland – and with a desire to help the needy.

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It all started in 2018 when he came across a couple with their four children and parents living in a shanty at Ajjowal village. Their woeful dwelling conditions stirred Parihar and he decided to provide them with a pucca house. It was nothing less than a dream project for him as he built the house with his own finances.

“It was Diwali when the construction completed and I handed over the house to the family as a Diwali gift. I can’t explain the feeling when I saw their smiling faces with tears rolling down their cheeks. It soothed my heart to no end,” says Parihar.

Soon, the word spread about his virtuous acts. After a few days, while he was at home when a woman from Ajjowal came to him, along with her kids, and narrated her tale of woes. She was living in a shack, along with her bedridden husband, and five children. She urged him to build a pucca house for the family.

“I inquired about the family and got to know that the shanty in which they were living was in a shambles. In two months the house was handed over to them,” 65-year-old Parihar recalls. While the construction of the house was underway, another request came to him and he did not disappoint the help seeker.

“After houses were handed over to three families, I came across many similar requests. With the help of my friends and relatives I kept building houses for the needy,” Parihar added.

Parihar has handed over 190 two-room brick houses to the homeless, while 10 units are under construction.

Under the project, a two-room brick house with toilet-cum-bathroom and a courtyard with interlock tiles is provided to the beneficiaries. Parihar says this is what he aspires to do for the rest of his life.

“I am committed to continue with it till my last breath and have a target of providing house to every homeless of Hoshiarpur, then in Punjab and then in the neighbouring states. I feel that there’s no service greater than providing a roof over the head of those who don’t even dare to dream of it,” a resolute Parihar says.

Besides, the pucca roofs have been provided to a number of houses. Parihar says he don’t remember the count of such houses.

Asked about those who joined hands with him in this noble cause, Parihar said, “Besides my own family and friends in US, many philanthropists came forward to help. Jasjit Singh Ahluwalia, a former IRS officer from Mohali; Manjit Singh from Salt Lake City, US; Manjit Singh Janda from US, Sarbjit Singh Dhunda, a Sikh preacher; principal Gurbachan Singh of Gurmat Gian College, Ludhiana; Satish Sharma from Hoshiarpur, Advocate Jaspal Singh and many others supported him.”