A Beckbagan resident has spent five days in flood-ravaged Punjab, offering help, and returning deeply moved by the generosity of those he had set out to assist.

Zeeshan Majid, 37, founder of the Anti-Hunger Squad Foundation, travelled from Calcutta to Punjab to distribute relief kits. But what struck him most was the magnanimity of the people, despite their own suffering. A hotel offered him free accommodation, and drivers refused to accept money for rides — simply because he had come to help.

“It is hard to believe how large-hearted the Punjabis are,” said Majid, whose foundation provides cooked meals to hundreds of people at hospitals, railway stations, and slums in Calcutta.

Majid and Md Sonawar, a volunteer with the foundation, boarded the Jallianwala Bagh Express from Sealdah on the evening of September 5 and reached Amritsar the next day. That night, they stayed at a lodge run by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

On September 7, they travelled to the Khalsa Aid office in Fatehgarh Churian, a town in Gurdaspur district. Majid had earlier met representatives of Khalsa Aid when they visited Bengal after Cyclone Yaas in May 2021.

“We got information about the worst-affected places from them. We stayed Sunday night at a hotel in the same town. Next morning, we stacked a mini truck with relief materials we procured from a warehouse along the highway and drove to the village,” Majid said.

They travelled to Bouli Sahab, a village in Ajnala subdivision of Amritsar district — one of the areas severely affected by the floods. Villages have been cut off, farmlands submerged, and power lines snapped.

Majid distributed relief kits to 100 families. Each kit contained 2kg of rice, 1kg each of dal, wheat flour, and salt, 1 litre of cooking oil, tea packs, biscuits, soap, sanitary pads, and matchboxes, among other essentials.

But Majid said the immediate human needs were largely met. “The main shortage is not of relief for humans. People from all over India and abroad have come forward to help Punjab. The people have enough relief material to last a few months. But there is a shortage of cattle feed,” he said.

Agriculture is the mainstay in Bouli Sahab, like in much of rural Punjab. “Almost every second family owns cattle. There are around 500 animals. There is a shortage of food for them,” Majid said.

Along the Gurdaspur highway, every few kilometres, people stood with fruits and refreshments for vehicles ferrying relief. “The drivers of cars and autos did not take money from us after getting to know our purpose. The hotel in Fatehgarh Churian did not charge us a penny,” Majid said.

He was scheduled to board a train to Sealdah on Wednesday. But he said he had arranged for some cattle feed and would go back with more help soon.

Majid’s Anti-Hunger Squad Foundation has been providing food to relatives of patients at government hospitals in Calcutta for years. The group scaled up operations during the pandemic.