With more relaxations under lockdown 4.0, the ‘Corona Warriors’, a volunteer group that was working with different departments, has been disbanded.
An official from the Department of Personnel and Information said that nearly 40,000 people from across the State had registered on the group, and had helped various departments during the lockdown by distributing food packets and ration kits to beneficiaries and creating awareness on social distancing.
“Among the 40,000 volunteers, around 1,000 were active in Bengaluru, and over 2,000 in other parts of the State,” the official said.
The group was created to help out mainly when there were transport restrictions. “The government saw no need in continuing with the volunteer group now that public transport has been allowed. We have, however, asked them to be on stand-by just in case there arises a need for volunteer support in future,” the official added. Certificates of appreciation will be issued to all active volunteers.
Though the ‘Corona Warriors’ group has been disbanded and the DIPR has stopped assigning jobs to volunteers, many departments have decided to enlist these volunteers on their own. For instance, some are helping the police department with data entry.
The DIPR official said that many gram panchayats, offices of the tahsildars, Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents of Police, civic bodies had issued identity cards to some volunteers and asked them to help them out for certain programmes.
Pruthvi N., who worked as a marketing executive in a private company in BTM Layout until three months ago, has been volunteering since the lockdown was announced. “I am now helping out with the health survey in Anekal taluk,” he said.
Ashwin Reddy, who is an agriculturist and a businessman, is part of a group of 30 volunteers, who were with DIPR’s ‘Corona Warriors’. These volunteers are working in three shifts and helping out the police personnel at the check post at Attibele.
