safety
Off Duty, Never Off Guard
Tajvirsinh Jadeja & Adhishree
How an evening errand at Tiroda market turned three colleagues into first responders.
It was just past eight in the evening on 30 July. The shift at Adani Power’s Tiroda plant in Maharashtra's Gondia district had ended, and three colleagues—Suryakant Sharma, Gautam Mathur and Arjun Jadhav—stepped out to pick up daily essentials at the local Tiroda market. What began as an ordinary errand, however, quickly transformed into an emergency that none of them had anticipated.
Amid the evening bustle, the three men noticed a distressing scene: Kailash Kapde, a local pani puri vendor, lay unconscious on the ground while his wife pleaded frantically for help.
A crowd had already gathered. Driven by panic and instinct rather than medical knowledge, bystanders were rubbing the vendor's hands and feet in a desperate attempt to revive him. In a well-meaning but highly hazardous gesture rooted in local myth, his wife had forced a steel spoon into his mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue.
The trio from Adani Power immediately recognised the danger.
Gautam Mathur
Suryakant Sharma
Arjun Jadhav
“When we reached him, we saw the spoon,” Mr Mathur recalled. “We removed it straightaway to ensure his airway wasn't blocked and made sure he had the space to breathe,” he said.
While Mr Mathur and Mr Sharma tended directly to the vendor, Mr Jadhav turned his attention to the pressing, chaotic crowd. “Our first task was to manage the onlookers,” Mr Jadhav explained. “People were closing in on him. We asked everyone to step back, forming a perimeter so that he could get fresh air and we could assess him properly,” he said.
Moments later, Mr Kapde regained consciousness—but the crisis was not over. He was highly disoriented, struggling to speak, unable to understand basic instructions, and couldn’t move normally.
When we reached him, the vendor's wife had put a spoon in his mouth. We removed it straightaway and made sure he had space to breathe.”
Gautam Mathur
Assistant Manager-Techno Commercial, APL
Our first task was to manage the crowd. A large number of people had gathered around him, so we asked everyone to step back and create space so that he could get air and we could assess him properly.
Arjun Jadhav
Techno Commercial, Purchase, APL
Trained to remain calm under pressure, the trio immediately recognised the signs to be more than that of a passing fainting spell. Stepping in decisively, Sharma brought his own vehicle around and carefully loaded Mr Kapde into the car. The three men drove the vendor straight to the nearby Aadhar Hospital.
Understanding the terrifying reality of a sudden medical crisis for a daily wage earner, Mr Sharma didn't just provide transport; he handed the vendor's family INR 1,000 in immediate financial support to cover emergency admission costs. The Adani stayed by the side of the family until all admission formalities were complete and emergency treatment had officially begun.
What unfolded that evening in Tiroda was not part of any job description. It was compassion, situational awareness and quick thinking, exercised by three individuals who chose to see, to understand and to act. Their response is a reminder that safety is not confined to the workplace; it travels with people, into markets, streets and everyday moments, wherever someone might need it most.