Hundreds of tribals look up in awe at Bhanoth Rooplal. From the tiny and remote Saamya hamlet, he became a doctor in 1978 and when on to do his MD general medicine later.
He became a source of inspiration for many to follow. Now his son and many of his nephews became doctors.
Speaking to , he said they floated Girijana Vidyavanthula Vedika and went on a door-to-door campaign urging parents to send their wards to school.
Free medical service
“I offer free medical services going round the social welfare hostels since I came from one of them. My services are free to all residents of my hamlet,” Dr Rooplal said.
He has two sons – one Nishanth Naik is civil assistant surgeon at Kothagudem while his second son Prashanth Naik just completed his B Tech degree.
“One of my brother’s son is an IPS officer while another is Orthopaedic specialist. We all had a healthy competition and encouraged each other. In our hamlet we never patronised Gudumba distillation and consumption. We focused only on education and many are now happily settled,” he explains.
Dr Rooplal established Jaya Nursing Home in late 1980s at Mahabubabad to be close to the tribals around the town. He ignored the lucrative practice in bigger towns and in governement service.
His brother-in-law Tejavath Ramachandru Naik, who did his engineering in mid 1970s from Osmania University, made it to IPS in 1980s. After a year of training, he again appeared for Civil Services and got selected to IAS in Orissa cadre. He went on to become Chief Secretary of Orissa and later joint secretary of Union Defence Ministry.
Presently he is the Telangana State representative in New Delhi.
So many from this tiny “Collector” Thanda, that came to be known after Mr Naik became IAS officer, have illustrious careers giving hope for scores of poor living in other hamlets in Mahabubad division.