Necessity is the mother of invention: it holds true for Tariq Ahmad Patloo, whose struggle in getting timely transportation to the shore of Dal lake during his covid illness, prompted him to design his own Shikara as a water ambulance in order to ferry patients like him to Dal Lake’s shore.
Patloo has expressed happiness after Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised his efforts for running a floating ambulance service in famous Dal Lake amid COVID-19 pandemic.
During his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ program, PM Modi appreciated Patloo’s novel idea of boat ambulance.
“I extend my gratitude to PM Modi Ji for mentioning my efforts during his programme Mann Ki Baat”. The appreciation from him is a great honour and means a lot for me. I hope the mention of my work in the programme will benefit my community who face a lot of problems during the ongoing pandemic,” he said.
While mentioning Patloo and his floating ambulance PM Modi said that there are many people in our country who have come forward and worked to help the doctors and he has come to know about one such attempt from Srinagar.
“Here a Boat Ambulance Service was started at Dal Lake. This service was started by Tariq Ahmad Patloo of Srinagar, who is a Houseboat Owner. He himself has also fought the battle with COVID-19 and this inspired him to start the Ambulance Service,” said PM Modi about Patloo’s innovation.
The PM added that a campaign is also underway to make people aware of this ambulance, and continuous announcements from the ambulance are also being made by him. “The effort is that people should wear a mask and undertake other necessary precautions too, he said.
