Bipin Ganatra Biography 
Bipin Ganatra is an electrician and fireman from Kolkata, West Bengal. An unsung hero who has helped many people during fire mishaps has been honoured by Government of India with Padma Shri in 2017 for his services towards the public and society. This volunteer fire-fighter was featured in a BBC series from India in 2016, and he was honoured with Padma Shri the following year. When he was a child, he lost his elder brother Narendra to a freak fire accident. So he decided to help others during fire mishaps and later turned a fireman. As of now, he has dedicated more than 4 decades to this field.
Bipin Ganatra was born in the year 1957 in Gujarat. But he is based in Kolkata now. Popularly known as 'Fireman' in Kolkata, he has been involved in rescue operations in over 100 fires across the Kolkata city in the past 40+ years. He determined to help other as a fireman after he witnessed a personal loss in his early teens. Bipin lost his elder brother to a fire accident when he was only 12 years old. His brother spent one month in hospital before he succumbed to death. He started with helping other firemen during fire incidents, before he started taking more responsibly.
He is an electrician by trade and earns a meagre salary, but also works as a fireman in Kolkata city. He also helps the police manage traffic. He has no formal training with regards to fire fighting. He just started by helping firefighters do odd jobs. But through experiences, he rose to the level of a professional firefighter. Till now he has assisted more than a hundred fire operation tasks. He usually monitors TV news to get informed with the fire breakouts.
Published: March 01, 2019
Updated: March 01, 2019
