BHUBANESWAR: They had the choice of staying at home. Yet they decided to join the fight against coronavirus pandemic. For the civil defence volunteers, charity takes preference over comfort. Around 50 such volunteers have come forward to assist the State Government and civic body in delivering services to citizens during lockdown and contain spread of the virus in the Capital, a coronavirus hotspot.
These frontline workers were initially carrying out community awareness drive and sensitiation campaigns in the city slums. However, after getting call from the Bhubaneswar Civil Defence unit, 25 of them volunteered for Government-run quarantine facilities. “It has been more than three weeks since we joined duty. Our main task is to coordinate timely delivery of food to inmates of the facilities, health check-up and communication with family members,” said 25-year-old Sudipta Kumar Sahoo, who works as a civil defence volunteer.
They also conduct yoga sessions and other fitness activities for the quarantined persons to reduce their mental stress. The volunteers were, earlier, working at the quarantine centres at OUAT but after the facilities were closed for repair last week, inmates were shifted to Yatri Niwas on Cuttack-Puri road. The volunteers are now serving there on roster. The task, however, is neither easy nor safe. Despite working for over 12 hours, they get Aahar meals for lunch and dinner.
They work without personal protective equipment (PPE) or sanitiser though they come in direct contact with the quarantined persons on a daily basis. Given the risk, most volunteers are distancing themselves from their family and prefer to stay back at the quarantine facility. “I felt it is safer to be at the quarantine facility than risk others,” says Debidutta Mohanty, another volunteer. Fully trained in disaster management, crowd control, rescue and evacuation, firefighting and other services, these volunteers are not covered by any insurance scheme. And for all that they do, they get a remuneration of `28 a day.
Jyoti Ranjan Mohapatra, another civil defence volunteer, has more than 25 years of experience. Despite limited resources available, he sticks to volunteerism and that has been the spirit of all the volunteers.