Surat: Nirav Shah, an altruist to the core, does not need any introduction in Surat. He has always been active in social service, helping the community to the best of his abilities during times of difficulty. When the entire world was going through challenging times due to the deadly pandemic, Nirav Shah reached out to the people who needed his help the most.
Former Deputy Mayor & Councilor Nirav Shah won the hearts of thousands of Surtis with his hard work and compassion towards serving people. Every year, he distributes sweets to a maximum number of people to commemorate Mahavir Jayanti. However, this year the celebrations being different, Nirav Shah distributed Samprati Grocery Kit to more than 3000 needy people in April 2020. The grocery kit comprised enough groceries for the monthly consumption of one family. He organized the Samprati Jeev Maitri Seva Yagna to feed animals and birds for nearly 45 days. For nearly 50 days, Nirav Shah, with his friend Ashok Maniyar served food to around 15000 underprivileged persons of society like labourers, EWS homes per day who were struggling to earn a living, that too without any donations. On his birthday falling on 1st May, Nirav also distributed various homoeopathic medicines to boost immunity among 1.5 lakh families.
The first wave of the pandemic saw a huge shortage of blood and plasma. Along with his team, Nirav Shah organized a blood 
donation camp before 1 week of May, wherein more than 700 units of blood were collected. Also, during this period, hospitals saw a surge of patients that could not be accommodated. At this time, his team established the 125-bed Samprati Covid Isolation Centre. Thousands of people could avail free treatment and medicine at this Centre. This continued in the second wave when the isolation centre worked harder and ensured free treatment to a maximum number of patients with all necessary facilities and medications. “The Centre was able to serve people suffering from Covid, within the age group of as young as 10 months to as old as 85 years.” Says Nirav Shah
In 2020, on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on 17th September, Nirav Shah paid tribute to the leader by uniquely celebrating his birthday. Considering the current issues and challenges faced by humanity recently, he initiated a ‘Green Mission’ wherein he planted 70,000 trees. This mission has also been registered in the Gujarat Book of Records.
“Maximum vaccination is the only way out to fight against this pandemic. To boost the vaccination drive, we have initiated a vaccination drive at Sr Citizen Centre in the Adajan area, where thousands of people have benefitted. Also, we took special permission from the government to avail vaccination for Jain Monks who didn’t peruse for any documents after taking their Diksha where they withdraw themselves from social life. We plan to continue our service constantly till the time the city is completely out of this pandemic,” adds Nirav Shah.
Nirav Shah and his team have earned the blessings and wishes from thousands of citizens who have been served by this compassionate team in one of the other ways, creating a benchmark for others to follow.