'Langar Baba' served food to around 2,000-2,500 individuals daily even in pandemic. On special occasions the count went up to as many as 4,000 people.
A self-made billionaire and Padma Shri awardee Jagdish Lal Ahuja, popularly known as 'Langar Baba', who was battling cancer passed away on Monday at the age of 86. He had been serving free food in the langar which is the practice of a free community kitchen and open to all across Chandigarh.
'Langar Baba' had been serving free food to patients and their attendants outside the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) and Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Sector 32 in Chandigarh every day for more than two decades.
Ahuja started the practice of a free community kitchen open to all across Chandigarh since 1981. He became a familiar face for thousands of needy patients, their attendants, and the poor, serving them langar of dal, chawal, roti, sabzi, halwa, bananas for more than twenty years.
'Langar Baba' was conferred the Padma Shri award in 2020 for his philanthropic service to the community at large. He had been organising a community kitchen since 2001 daily. Initially, it was outside the PGI Hospital. Later, he also started it at the Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32. The langar serves fresh vegetarian meals in the afternoon and late evening.
In this langar, food was served to around 2,000 - 2,500 individuals every day. On special occasions, as many as 4,000 people have also been fed at one given point in time. The COVID-19 pandemic also did not stop Ahuja from conducting his routine langars.
He sold his seventh property worth Rs 1.5 crore in 2015 to arrange money to offer meals to anyone who shows up. Punjab Governor and Administrator of Chandigarh, Banwarilal Purohit, expressed deep condolences over the demise of Chandigarh's 'Langar Baba'.
The journey of 'Langar Baba'
Jagdish Lal Ahuja was 12 when he came to Patiala from Pakistan during the 1947 Partition and moved to Chandigarh in 1956.
He had haunting memories of pain, violence and hunger that he witnessed as a 12-year-old during the Partition that changed him forever.
After staying in refugee camps initially in Patiala and Amritsar, he finally moved to Chandigarh at the age of 21 and started selling fruits.
In Chandigarh, with just a few rupees in his pocket, he began selling bananas on a cart, and slowly built his business.
He began community langar outside his shop in the city's grain market on his son's eighth birthday more than 38 years ago.
Later this became a tradition and commitment for Jagdish Lal Ahuja who went on to be called the 'Langar Baba'.
Ahuja once recalled that while passing through PGI, where he was being treated for cancer, he saw a man distributing food to the poor.
Inspired by this act, on January 21, 2000, Ahuja began distributing free food to people outside PGI and later GMCH-32.
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 "'Langar Baba' who fed thousands of hungry passes away")
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