An angel for the departed

In the past 25 years, Mogillipally Srinivas  has rescued over 4000 beggars and homeless  people from the streets of Hyderabad. He helps them find a place to live and has been admitting the sick to hospitals, paying the bills himself. He even cremates unattended bodies. “When I was in Class VIII, I started working part-time and fed the homeless with that money. I took up social service more seriously in 1992 and have rescued 3252 people from the roads, and cremated over 4,000 bodies,” says Srinivas.

The 38-year-old has never taken a penny for his kindness. He does it with what he earns from his business and has roughly spent '2 crore  on the needy. On his sources for information, Srinivas says, “Policemen throughout the city know me, so if there’s a case that they think I can help them with, they call me. I work 24 hours a day, and on an average, cremate two bodies daily. The police also help me with the paper work before the cremation and hospitals have also been helpful.”

Srinivas lost his eldest son due to a hole in his heart. After this incident, he started the ‘Real Vivek Foundation’. Srinivas recalls, “I received a call from someone who said that a 14-year-old girl has died. I rushed to the location and found that she was only injured. We got the girl cleaned up and admitted her to a hospital. I bought clothes for her and later sent her to an orphanage.

Srinivas has two children and says that his wife has been his pillar of support. Although he started the initiative alone, 20 others now help him. He wants to start an orphanage and an old-age home where people can live for free.