A group of eight friends from Howrah’s Chinsurah have turned their passion for bike riding into a way to assist those in need and are ferrying people to and from Chinsurah on their motorbikes, taking only the cost of fuel.

“We have always loved riding and have travelled to many places. We even purchased our bikes together. So, we thought of converting our passion into assistance,” said Amit Ray, a state government employee and a musician who runs a platform — Amit Ray Creation — with his friends.

Amit and his friends Sandip Sana, a sound engineer, Arun Saha, an employee of the Chinsurah civic body, and sound engineer Sushovon Parui, recently broadcast their intentions on social media groups that they would ferry people to and from Chinsurah (within a radius of 100km-140km) on their motorbikes only against the cost of fuel.

They started the initiative on May 15, when the state announced lockdown owing to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, and have already assisted over two dozen people to reach various locations, including Burdwan, Calcutta, Nadia and North 24-Parganas.

“Burdwan is around 96km from Chinsurah and four litres of petrol is needed to cover the distance. Our cost is around Rs 400 for the rider. We are also requesting our riders to donate something for the poor if they wish. We have received a huge response from the people here,” said Amit.

However, after the state government imposed stricter restrictions to curb the Covid graph, the service is open only for those who need to travel for emergency purposes.