Pingalwara
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Pingalwara is a house for destitutes in Amritsar in northern Indian state of Punjab. It is housed in a three-storey building near the main Amritsar bus stand on the National Highway no. 1, also known as G.T. Road.
History
Pingalwara was founded informally in year 1924 by a then 19-year-old Ramji Das who later became famous as Bhagat Puran Singh.
Pingalwara is officially registered as All India Pingalwara Charitable Society under the Act 1960, Reg No130. Since death of Bhagat Puran Singh in 1992, it is headed by Dr. Inderjit Kaur who is a physician by training and also runs a private maternity clinic in Sangrur, Punjab.
Services
Currently Pingalwara has facilities for 1080 patients who are fed, housed and looked after thanks to generous support of various philanthropists. The unclaimed bodies of the deceased are donated to Government Medical College, Amritsar for research and teaching purposes.
The main branch houses the Administrative Complex, A Female ward, Children's ward, Rehabilitation Centre, Printing Press, Dispensary, Medical Lab, Dental Centre and the Common Kitchen.[1] Pingalwara also operates a free drug dispensary, a blood bank, a shelter for intellectually disabled children and a free primary school in a slum area in Amritsar city. Poor and abandoned children raised by Pingalwara are helped re-establish themselves in society at completion of their school education. An ambulance and a basic operation room is available for trauma care of accident victims.
Branches
Pingalwara has branches in Jalandhar, Sangrur, Chandigarh, Goindwal and Manawala (Amritsar district).
Its Manawala branch has an area of 25 acres (100,000 m2)comprising a Senior secondary school, SOS homes, wards for mentally ill patients as well as for the old aged and a Physotherapy centre.
Pingalwara in the year 2006 bought 35 acres (140,000 m2) land near Jandiala, 20 km from Amritsar. It also has an organic farm where fresh fruits and vegetables are grown without using pesticides.