Rickshaw-puller Rajbir Singh (45) of Amritsar has been selected for Bhagat Puran Singh Award for Service to Humanity,

Kumar Saurav Raj, former Deputy Commissioner of Faridkot, has been chosen for the award for honesty.

Rajbir is known for penning the book ‘Rickshaw Tey Chale Zindagi’. The book is a compilation of 14 short stories on his 20-year experience as a rickshaw puller, meeting people of different ages and mindsets. The book has painful but inspiring stories of many poor mechanics, rickshaw-pullers and daily wagers who live a hard life to run their families.

These awards were Instituted in 2000, each award carries Rs 1 lakh and a citation.