In the year 1900 there was famine in Chhattisgarh. Pt. Shukla, then a young man of 23 years, wrote a letter to Chief Commissioner of the State expressing his desire to serve in someway, the famine-affected people of the area. The Chief Commissioner got this letter on Saturday. On Sunday, when he met Rev. Bitton the principal of Hislop College in a YMCA meeting, the chief commissioner made up his mind and offered Pt. Shukla a position to work as a famine officer at Borda camp (44 miles from Raipur towards Saraipali and 8 miles from Sirpur). The young Pt. Shukla served the famine-affected people with such zest and vigour that he became a hero for the people of Saraipali. The impact was such that they would remember him with gratitude and reverence for many years to come.