From being an independent social activist to a government-appointed volunteer-coordinator for COVID-19, 27-year old Hari Krishnan, an entrepreneur and skill trainer from Saidapet, is crusading relief works in the city.
CHENNAI: Selfless deeds start with selfish needs. I say this because four years back, in 2016, when I decided to step into social service, I intended to do it for fame. With time, as I participated in awareness walks, clean-up campaigns, protests for various causes and extensive ground-level research, my goal shifted to standing up for the voiceless. I come from lower economic strata and studied in a government school. My first job was in class six.
I know the value of money and the class division it brings. An MBA graduate, I have a full-time profession now to earn my livelihood. My journey began with relief and rehabilitation in emergency crises such as cyclone Vardha (2016), Kerala floods (2018), and cyclone Gaja (2018). I got a first-hand experience of handling aftermath of a natural disaster, engaged with different NGOs and activists, and established contacts. Since then, I’ve involved myself with social service activities in various areas. I ensure every penny I donate or use for these services comes from my pocket.
A ray of hope
Cut to 2020, this COVID-19 pandemic induced lockdown gave me another opportunity to help the needy. On March 27, I received a call from an orphanage in the city asking for help with medicines. Upon reaching there, I realised the situation was bad with no basic groceries available. These are not government-aided and solely rely on funds from people like you and me, who either make monthly or occasional donations. I prepared a list of such orphanages and started helping them with relief materials bought from my savings. One day, when I was travelling by train to an orphanage, I happened to see visually-impaired people near Pallavaram railway station. One of them told me that there are about 15,000 blind people in Chennai. In addition to registering their identities with the government, they are also part of a few organisations and sangams.
In a few days, I crosschecked with the organisations and got the names of 1,500 visually-impaired people scattered across the city. I shortlisted about 200 of them who are needy, living in rural areas and have not received any sort of help since the lockdown began. I adopted these families. My mission began during the first week of April. I used to leave my house at 7 am since the curfew time was 1 pm during the first phase of lockdown. After buying vegetables and groceries, I would travel around 180 km every day to distribute them to 20 houses per day in Ponneri, Thiruvallur, Thiruvadhur, and the outskirts of the city. Accessing their houses was difficult because the visually- impaired people couldn’t guide me with routes. Eventually, my cousins joined me — one helped with transportation as he owns an autorickshaw, and the other rented out his space to be used as a godown to stock up relief materials.
The relief kit had five kilos of rice, one kilo of sugar, one kilo of salt, basic vegetables and spices. Each kit cost within Rs 1,000. Each could last for a month. It took me a couple of weeks to finish distribution. Later, the curfew time extended to 7 pm and I had more time to carry on with distribution. I also uploaded pictures of my work on the Facebook page under my name. People I’ve worked with previously from different cities and countries contributed money for the kits. I used them efficiently and in return, sent them the images of the bills for the relief materials purchased. All the beneficiaries thanked me with folded hands and tears in their eyes.
Road to responsibility
On April 14, on my way back from distribution activities, I was stopped by police at Ambattur. He seized my vehicle and questioned me for more than an hour. When I introduced myself as a social activist and explained the work I had done so far, he lamented, ‘Are you one of those people who plunder money in the name of collecting donations?’ I was disappointed with the way I was treated for my genuine efforts. I immediately reached out to the zonal officer, whom I knew, and they released me. The next day, I vehemently penned down a letter addressing my grievance and the list of activities I was doing since the lockdown began. I marked a copy to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu and all officials. Within two days, on April 16, I was called to the Greater Chennai Corporation and asked to meet Sukumar Chitti Babu, revenue officer. I was handed over a government order, being appointed as the head of volunteer coordinators for COVID-19 relief materials (exclusively for migrant relief) for five zones in the city. That day marked a new beginning in my life. I felt motivated and responsible. It was also the first time that a government order was given to an individual instead of an organisation. It’s not often that one man’s efforts get acknowledged. In the next five days, I was made in-charge of all 15 zones in the city with 47 volunteers working under me. Every zone has a coordinator who reports to me. ID-cards, masks and sanitisers were provided to all of us by the GCC.
On-field activities
Our job begins around 7 am. The kits comprising groceries need to be picked up from zonal offices in different zones. My job was to monitor if the kits were dispatched in time and the daily target was met. Earlier, we used to get delayed because the zonal offices were away from the respective zones and we would be made to wait for the officials. This in turn affected the beneficiary. I explained the situation to the revenue officer. The next day, we were given the sole responsibility of the stock and the place to store it. For instance, zone 15 is Shollinganallur and the stock was stored at a place in Kannagi Nagar. The volunteer coordinator for the area is an autorickshaw driver. Things went smoothly and there was no misappropriation of stock. This was a milestone for us. Meghanath Reddy, corporation deputy commissioner, revenue and finance, has also been a big support to us. I’d update him every day on the number of kits distributed and the number of people we reached out to. This was to ensure that they have a proper account of the money spent.
He gave me the freedom to lead my team the way I wanted. Around 25,000 kilos of relief kits were allotted to us since April 16. This has been equally supplied to 8,000 migrants and 1,500 other needy families with widows, abandoned parents, people with disabilities, and destitutes so far. I also carried on with my private social activities. By May, I had only Rs 2,000 in my savings. I had exhausted Rs 2 lakh from my marriage savings in a month for social service. I handle branding and marketing for a few companies in the city and also conduct skill training for freshers and entrepreneurs by the side. There was no business during lockdown and I had to manage with my other savings. As volunteers, we had other financial challenges such as travel expenses as most of us lost our jobs during this pandemic. We tried and helped each other with financial support to keep the mission going. In the second week of May, volunteers split into two groups. One group was involved in on-field distribution activities and the other group was responsible for rescuing migrants from the shelters, quarantining them and sending them to their respective hometowns by Shramik trains.
Around 6,000 people boarded the train each week. Four trains ran every day. To date, 75,922 stranded migrants have reached safely. All the officials — right from the commissioner, DG, ARO and revenue officers — have been leaving the Central station only after the migrants have boarded the trains. To date, their schedule is packed with work from 7 am that goes on till late in the night depending on emergencies and updates. Alongside this, every volunteer has taken up an individual cause and is contributing his share in smaller ways. If I find people stranded or starving for food on the road or slum settlements then I will immediately pool in resources and get them what’s necessary. Since I have the onduty pass from the government, I take emergency cases like women in labour in my vehicle to the hospital. I’m grateful for the recognition and support of the government at the right time. As a social activist, it’s not sustainable for me to contribute single-handedly in the long run. This way, we have been able to help more families. We are travelling in the right direction with guidance. Having said all this, my family is equally disappointed and happy with my social service activities. I’m sure no parent would encourage spending one’s hard-earned money on others. I have not borrowed money or worked with expectations so far. I will continue to lend a helping hand to those in need.
(As told to Vaishali Vijaykumar)