At a time when Covid-19 cases are surging and people are facing hardship amid the lockdown in Jharkhand, Good Samaritans have come forward to help in two different parts of the state.
Santosh Kumar Panda, a 38-year-old employee of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) in Noamundi block of West Singhbhum district, has been distributing rations and medicines in a PPE kit to Covid-19 patients in home isolation.
“It was a spontaneous decision after I witnessed the plight of the people living in home isolation in my neighbourhood. A friend and his family faced hardship with even relatives not coming to his help in providing rations during the quarantine period. Such incidents prompted me to do something. I approached the officials at SAIL General Hospital with a request to help such Covid patients. After discussions with them, I started helping the patients from the last week of April and have continued the work so far,” said Panda, an employee in the electrical department at the Kiriburu-Megahataburu iron ore mines.
Santosh Kumar Panda on his bike in Kiriburu of West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand Bhola Prasad
Panda takes order of rations and medicines over WhatsApp and call and delivers them to patients in home isolation on his motorcycle. He has shared his mobile number with the SAIL hospital and Kiriburu police station.
“The SAIL hospital provides me a list of persons who are under home isolation every day. I contact them personally and share my number for handing over food items and medicines advised for Covid patients. I have even given my number to the local police station who in turn share the number with Covid patients who are under home isolation. On an average, I deliver rations and medicines to more than 10 houses daily. The orders are placed over WhatsApp or call (9439491930),” said Panda.
Members of the social outfit, led by Dilip Singh (in green shirt above) Shabbir Hussain
Panda takes whatever the family members of those under home isolation can pay.
“I hand over the invoices for medicines and rations to the households. If they are poor or express their inability to pay, then I do not take anything. If they can afford, then they pay me through the digital mode or in cash. A few of them even volunteer to give me extra money for fuel and time spent in the work, but I strictly refuse,” said Panda, who helps Covid patients in home isolation after his eight-hour duty at the mines.
Members of the social outfit distribute iftar kits to families in Dhanbad Shabbir Hussain
In another example of providing aid, members of a social outfit called Yuvak Sangharsh Morcha Janwadi have started distributing iftar kits to poor Muslim families affected by lockdown at Dhanbad.
“We had distributed food and rations to people during the first wave of Covid-19 last year. Later, several other NGOs joined the effort. However, this year no social organisation has come forward to help the poor. We saw several Muslim families are not able to perform rituals after keeping fast during Ramazan because of poverty and loss of earning opportunities due to the lockdown. We decided to help them out in whatever way we can and distributed iftar kits,” said Dilip Singh, 30, who leads the outfit.
The iftar kit comprises chana (gram), dates, sugar, mustard and refined oil, lacha sewai, besan (gram flour), rooh afza (syrup), face mask and soap.
“Each kit costs around Rs 900 but with the support of my family, friends and well-wishers so far we have been able to distribute them to several poor Muslim families. Since Wednesday we have distributed the kits to around 50 families,” said Dilip.
On Friday, the state registered fresh 5,973 Covid-19 cases taking the total active caseload to 61,177. The state also reported 136 deaths due to the virus on Friday taking the total casualties to 3,615 in the second wave.
Jharkhand’s mortality rate stands at 1.30 per cent, higher than the national average of 1.10 per cent, while its recovery rate of 76.52 per cent is lower than the national average of 81.90 per cent.
