Non-profits extend helping hand to poor people during Covid-19 lockdown

To tide over the Coronavirus crisis, some non-profits are doing their best to ensure that basic supplies like rice and pulses reach even the interior areas, where even during normal times, people remain cut off due to harsh terrain and long distances.

In the backward Gumla district of Jharkhand, non-profit Pradan is conducting sensitisation drives and awareness campaigns to help the poor. According to Pradan team coordinator in Gumla, Debanjan Ghatak, awareness drive is on in the entire district. “We have identified two major issues. One is keeping track on people living in the villages and another is identifying labourers, who are coming from outside as a result of reverse migration. We have also created isolation centres in the panchayats to contain the spread of Covid-19,” Ghatak said over phone.

In these difficult times, daily wage labourers and their families have been hit the most. For field workers belonging to different non-profits, restrictions placed on their movements and budget constraints to buy food and other essential items are also becoming an issue. However, a few donors have come forward like the Bank of America, Ghatak added.

“We are also accepting individual donations. A sahayog samiti Gumla has been created and till now Rs 1,65,000 has been collected. It is a good sign that people are positively responding. We are taking the help of volunteers in the respective villages to distribute ration kits to the poor. We are asking only two volunteers at a time, as movement is restricted. In this way, we have covered 216 people in the first phase. The kits are especially targeted at single women, widows and daily wage labourers. The kits will cover 750 households,” Ghatak added. The kits comprise 15 kg rice, 1 kg dal, mustard oil, salt, turmeric powder and soap.

Source: Sabrang