ITANAGAR, Aug 12: With his mission to eradicate child beggary from the entire nation, Ashish Sharma, a mechanical engineer, arrived in Itanagar on foot on Saturday.
Sharma, 29, who hails from Delhi, is a mechanical engineer by profession. He sacrificed his job in a multinational company and started his beggar-free Indian campaign titled ‘Unmukt India 17,000 km walk’ from Jammu on 22 August, 2017. He has already travelled through 16 states, covering 8,411 kms, and has set a target to travel 17,000 kms across the nation to spread awareness about child begging.
In an interaction with the media, Sharma narrated how he was moved by a pathetic sight which compelled him to embark on his mission.
One evening, he said, when he was returning home from work, he saw an emaciated child with a bleeding hand, begging. He took the child home, gave him first aid, some new clothes, and got him enrolled in a nearby school with the help of an NGO.
But he did not stop there. Deciding to pursue his dream, Sharma quit his job in 2015 and embarked on a journey to cover the entire country on foot to create awareness about child beggars.
“Travelling on foot is not at all an easy task, but my goal to make India a nation free of child begging kept me going,” he said.
Sharma travels around 30 to 40 kms a day and meets thousands of people to make them aware of the welfare schemes that could change an individual’s life.
When asked if this walking would help in the eradication of beggary, he said, “No, it won’t directly; but this is just a first phase. As soon as I complete my journey, I and my supporters will organize a huge rally in New Delhi, and then we will start sending children to school, from the village level onwards.”
Sharma has already visited Tawang, Bomdila and Dirang. After covering all the NE states, he will leave for West Bengal.
