"It is a gift from the people of Sundarbans for my love for them ... It has been long 27 years since I came here first with Brother Gaston Dayanand and became involved with the people here," Lapierre who comes to this South 24 Parganas town almost every year told a public felicitation in Bhangor.

"When I come here from France I feel exhausted. But when I return, the love that I am showered with here, the interaction with the people inspire me to think and work afresh. Then I look forward to coming here again," the septuagenarian novelist, who had his wife Dominique by his side at the function, said.

He provides funds from the royalty he gets from his well known novel 'City of Joy' and 'A Thousand Suns' for the treatment of tuberculosis patients, mostly rickshaw pullers and bidi workers, here. The work is done by an NGO Southern Health Improvement Society, who organised the felicitation.

Lapierre said there are a lot of problems facing the people of Sundarbans like lack of education and health facilities besides social problems. To solve them public representatives, ministers and the government must be informed by the people themselves.

"I am helping and if the government comes forward then there will be no problems ... NGOs like SHIS should work to eradicate social problem like cruelty to women.

"I will continue to think and work for the people of the Sundarbans as long as I live. My royalty and my friends will continue my work when I am no more," Lapierre said.

Lapierre carries with him a bell carried by the rickshaw pullers of Kolkata.