After the second wave started in India, one of the first states to get affected was Chattisgarh. It was also one of the worst affected states. As it shares the border with Odisha (Western Region), due to close economical, cultural and social ties of the people in Western Odisha - Chhattisgarh region, our newly elected office bearing team could sense the upcoming danger and started to buckle up for the journey to help the people at a rapid pace.
Information is easily available in today's world over the internet, starting from social media to mass media like TVs and Radios. The challenge is, when it comes to assembling the information and sorting out the precise resource during time of need, it becomes a problem to anyone irrespective of the person having access to the internet or not. Hence we decided to launch our own all India covid helpline number: 080-61160455 Till now, we have catered over 2100 calls through our helpline mostly from Bangalore / Odisha region.
Atal Saheta a flagship help initiative to support our needy folk artists who lost their livelihood for COVID; under this initiative we have distributed 1000+ Dry food kits in two phases in the 10 Districts of Western Odisha.
During this intiative we coverd below locations
Kinnar Saheta an indigenous help initiative to support the special gender at the time of their needs; under this intiative we have supported 200+ families with the support and guidance of Ms. Meera Parida (the legendary transgender leader and social activist of Odisha) and local Government Administration of our 10 Districts of Western Odisha.
During this intiative we coverd below locations
The idea of the food distribution programme came to our mind due to strict lockdown implementations of the Odisha Government. We already know that ever since the beginning of pandemic, Odisha has been at the forefront -be it restricting inter/intra state movement or implementing lockdowns. However, a negative effect of it was the food shortage for attendants of people admitted in hospitals, daily wage workers and migrant labourers who returned to their home villages and towns. Till now, we have served over 20,000 meals at following places -
The birth of this idea came after we got acknowledged about a group of 80 migrant broom sellers from Chattisgarh/MP stuck in an interior part of Sonepur district where planning of delivering daily cooked food was difficult. Also, a lot of requests to us were concentrated around people who can cook, but don't have ingredients.
The birth of this idea was the moment when covid cases in Odisha started shifting towards rural areas from urban areas. At a few places, the distance to the nearest oxygen bank was over 60km.
The birth of this idea was the moment when covid cases in Odisha started shifting towards rural areas from urban areas. In almost all interior villages, the Anganwadi workers weren't equipped with even a single oximeter.