Founder President

Bio Data Of - Sh. Prem Kumar Khullar

Sh. Prem Kumar Khullar is diverse personality and fully active at the age of 85. Everything was not rosy in his life cycle. Ups and down came. On one side, he excelled as Student - he is MA Economics; as Defense Officer – War Veteran; As doting Father – All children excelled in their respective fields and are well settled in Western countries; As Farmer – he converted almost barren land into rich farm producing agri fields; Author – He has authored a Book titled as “Deprivation of Rural India” + articles in English dailies and then; as Social Activist – as President of ABLE for last 30 years. He acknowledges his failure as industrialist – his business venture failed miserably and also as local politician – he contested election and lost.

Sq. Ldr. Prem Kumar Khullar is today nearly 85 years (DOB –18 Sept 1937) of age. He did his graduation from Government. College, Ludhiana, in 1956 and Post graduation in Economics in 1958, from Punjab University College, Hoshiarpur.

He joined Indian Air Force in 1959. During his career, he served all over the country. He took part in the 1971 War from Pathankot Base where he was posted as Chief Administrative Officer. The achievement of the Pathankot Base depended to a large extent on the administrative support given to the Pilots and other people who attacked the enemy during the War. He sought pre-mature retirement from IAF in 1982, at the age of 45.

The career of Shri Khullar took a dramatic turn after his retirement. Shri Khullar got attracted to farming and took it with the zeal and determination of a soldier. To prove his point as a determined soldier to turn the tide of destiny, he bought 35 acres of barren land about 70 km from Delhi on NH2. This land had not been tilled in the living memory of the elders of the village. This was a challenge that was accepted by Shri Khullar. With the help of modern technology, such as underground drainage, green manuring, vermi-culture, he started growing flowers and fruit where nothing had been grown in living memory. He proved the village elders wrong, who had said, “Yeh Fauji to Gaya". (This soldier is doomed) when he bought the land.

During this phase of his career he came in close contact with the farm labour, landless workers, and poor villagers. The pathetic state of affairs that existed in the country regarding availability of medicare and educational facilities in the rural areas moved him deeply. The sorry state of affairs came to his knowledge when he found that 50 odd women planting paddy on his farm had never heard of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, staying just 70 km away from Delhi.

Apart from this, most of the women, he found, were deprived of medical care due to which they suffered physically and had to go to urban areas for treatment resulting in acute financial drain on their meagre resources. This pathetic state of affairs jolted Shri Prem Khullar immensely. He sold his 50-acre high quality farm to start a charitable organisation, right there. A small medical organisation was started in a nearby village to gain confidence and experience. This organization, known as, ABLE (ASSOCATION FOR BLINDNESS AND LEPROSY ERADICATION) charities was set up.

After he had served the villagers for some years, they realised the true and honest service of ABLE. He got donation of seven acres of land from a village.

The foundation of a modern hospital was laid on 15th October 1999. It was completed within a year. During this period Shri Khullar undertook a tour of six months of different countries of Europe and America to garner financial and material support for his project. The hospital with 27 beds was opened on 2nd October, 2000, to the public and today nearly 33000 patients a year from nearby villages including the town of PALWAL avail facilities of this institution where the charges are just Rs 20/- for consultation. The rates for the rural people are very low such as Rs 500/ for a normal delivery and Rs 11000 for major operation like the gall bladder. Other services such as laboratory or other tests cost about one-third of those in nearby towns.

Mr. Prem Kumar Khullar is not only a social activist, but also a man of letters. He has written one book “Deprivation of Rural India” which was born out of his knowledge of Economics gained in his college days and experience of his life as a farmer, after his retirement from the Services. Since agriculture was his love he used to write in different small magazines etc. including Economic Times (copy enclosed). He left writing in magazines and newspapers because of pressure of work of the Hospital and his activities in the field of education.