About us

In the early eighties, a few elderly people would gather in the evenings at Adda Mullanpur Dakha near the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway. These gatherings could have been passed off as any other village “Sath” (an informal place where people sit in small groups for gossiping), but there was a difference. This was a group of learned citizens with their collective wisdom, knowledge and experience who wanted to make a change.

Dr Gurmel Singh Deol, with the idea that more people should reap the benefit of these discussions, persuaded the group leader, Baba Gursewak Singh, to organize the meetings more formally. Baba Gursewak Singh Ji was his tutor of Divinity in his school days. Thus the venue shifted to Dr Gurmel Singh’s residence and the group would meet every Thursday. What started with half a dozen individuals, soon crossed the four-dozen mark and was now referred to as “Veervar Satsang”. Not only did the numbers increase, but the topics of discussion also expanded from mainly religious to historical, social, environmental etc. A treasure, hitherto neglected and under-utilized, started giving dividends.

Dr Gurmel Singh along with his friends S. Balwant Singh Saggu, S. Ajit Singh, S. Gurbachan Singh Sidhu and others, most of them nearing retirement, visited some day-care centres for the elderly in the city and the suburbs. They studied their work and conceptualized a Senior Citizen Day Care Centre at Mullanpur Dakha and it was discussed and approved in the Thursday Satsang. It was also decided to form a Trust, to run this project. Thus, Guru Nanak Charitable Trust was formed and duly registered with the Government in 1987. Baba Gursewak Singh Ji became the first Chairman and Dr Gurmel Singh the first General Secretary. 

Baba Bhagwan Singh’s family donated a plot of 600 yards for the building. Dr Gurmel Singh, after winding up his clinic, would march from street to street and from village to village, along with Lala Chanan Dass Luthra and S Mohinder Singh Sanghera, to collect funds for the project. Lalaji had an excellent knack for extracting donations. Gradually the construction of the building started, under the supervision of S. Mohinder Singh. Now, the trustees didn’t have to explain to the donors what they planned to do, they were walking the talk and it was for everyone to see. Donations started pouring in from NRI friends and well-wishers. The financial and moral support from local people was overwhelming. 

The first building was ready by 1989. It had a public library, a reception lobby, a free dispensary, an office on the ground floor and a big hall on the first floor that had Sri Guru Grant Sahib Prakash in it. It was aptly named “Gurmat Bhawan”, and was dedicated to human welfare on 10 December 1989. Volunteers, donors, friends, well-wishers and the general public from the adjoining areas came in huge numbers. It was a sort of festive occasion, something different, something unique was in the offering. Bhagat Puran Singh from Pingalwara, Amritsar addressed the gathering that day. Dr. Gurmel Singh considered Bhagat Ji his mentor and was deeply inspired by him. Bhagat ji now persuaded the Gurmat Bhawan team to look beyond senior citizens’ welfare. The world, he said, needed welfare work in numerous other fields too. From that day onwards, there was no looking back. More schemes and concepts started transforming into action on a war footing. Gurmat Bhawan had a formidable team now.