Amid Lockdown distress, NGOs, civil society groups lending helping hand to affected people

The Coronavirus Pandemic has gripped the world with around 3,000,000 cases now. Around 130,000 people have lost their lives to this deadly virus.

In India, over 12,000 people are infected and 414 people have lost their lives. PM Modi in his televised address on April 14 announced the extension of countrywide lockdown till May 3. The lockdown extension has thrown many lives out of gear, especially marginalised communities and migrants across the country. Many are surviving on one meal per day and some are sleeping hungry for days.

Apart from some efforts from the government, several NGOs, civil society groups, religious groups and Human rights organisations are coming forward to help the needy.

Student Islamic Organisation (SIO) is one such group which has been working in 24 states to provide the needy families with essential items.

Speaking to National Herald, Syed Azharuddin, General Secretary SIO of India said, “we have provided around 50,000 families with ration kits. Being a student organisation initially we began our work to provide food and temporary accommodation for students as the lockdown was sudden and many students living in small rooms and hostels could face problems. Later on, we came to know about the problems faced by migrant labourers . We tried to provide relief material to them also.”

“We have been providing cooked food daily, ration to workers. We are also helping them in getting ration which is being provided by the government.”

“We have reached around 100,000 labourers. Most of them are from Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. We are working in 24 states, with 1000 helpline centres and around 10000 volunteers,” said Azharuddin.

SIO has even been distributing free masks, snacks to police on duty too.

Whereas, Jamat E Islami Hind has provided around 6 lakh food kits, distributed over 38 thousand masks and four thousand sanitisers. JIH has been providing relief in over 24 states.

The Alliance for Progressive Indians which is a group of Indian academics, students, doctors, lawyers, engineers, researchers and humanitarians, is working in 12 states to raise funds to assist their Indian partners in their fight against hunger during Covid19 pandemic.

In Assam, they have been able to arrange 100 ration kits for distribution in Kamrup. On April 2, ration was distributed to 80 families in Nagarbera, Kamrup district of Assam. The beneficiaries were daily wage labourers and migrant workers who managed to reach home.

Similarly, in Noida through Rasshad, Alliance for Progressive Indians is helping 23 migrant construction workers who are stuck in Khora colony of Noida's Labour Chowk. The migrant workers hail from Cooch Behar, West Bengal. Rasshad has helped many in various areas of Noida, who were stuck and had no food or ration supplies.

On Similar lines, Humanitarian relief society has distributed over 13,000 ration kits, over 12,000 food packets in the state of Karnataka.