Assam: Janmoni Gogoi with her new moped bike given to her by the police.
Janmoni Gogoi, 20, works hard to run her family. The resident of a village in upper Assam's Dibrugarh district has been selling vegetables during the coronavirus lockdown on a bicycle to support her ailing parents.
After her story was reported in newspapers, the police in Dibrugarh decided to offer a helping hand and gifted a moped bike to the woman under the initiative of Assam police chief Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta.
Ms Gogoi had to drop out of high school due to financial constraints at home. For the last two years, she has been helping her mother sell vegetables at a market in Dibrugarh.
After the nationwide lockdown was imposed in March, she started selling vegetables door-to-door on her bicycle.
"I am thankful to Dibrugarh Police because they gifted me a moped bike to sell vegetables. After reports on me got published, people are coming to help me. I have struggled during the lockdown because I had to ferry vegetables on cycle and had to cover long distances on cycle. Now, I can easily take the vegetables on the moped bike," she said.
Ms Gogoi said her family had to face many hardships since the lockdown was imposed as their business of selling vegetables was badly affected.
"My father has been ailing for the last 18 years. He cannot walk, and my mother sells vegetables in the Borbaruah market to run the family. Since the nationwide lockdown, our business got affected. I then decided to sell vegetables on the cycle and started taking them door-to-door," she said.
The residents of Ghogora village are proud of Janmoni Gogoi. "We are proud of Janmoni because she is a true inspiration and encourages others with her good works. We hope for her future success," a villager said.
"We got the know about Janmoni from the media. Under Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police Sreejith T, we decided to help her but she refused to take any monetary help from us. She had self-respect and didn't want any help from us. Then we decided to gift her a moped bike which will help her carry vegetables. We are proud of her and she is a true inspiration for others," senior Dibrugarh police officer, who handed over the moped to Janmoni Gogoi at her home, said.