If you alight a bus at Karakkunnathu on the Nanminda-Narikkuni Road in Kozhikode, you cannot move on without washing your hands properly, for the volunteers of Pathayoram Collective will make sure that you do.
The collective of 40 families in the region has set up wash basins on both sides of the road at the bus stop. Everyone who alights a bus here is forced to clean their hands before they move on to their next location, be it office or home.
“It was the Chief Minister’s Facebook post two days ago that motivated us to take up this initiative. Understanding the need to keep hands clean to ward off COVID-19, we decided to do our bit,” said Jayadeesh A.K., secretary of the collective.
Within hours of the Chief Minister’s post announcing the ‘Break the chain’ campaign in the State, the member families of Pathayoram, under the leadership of its president V.K. Balan, sprung into action. The next morning, they set up the wash basins, complete with handwash and sanitisers.
The Pathayoram Collective is a rather young organisation, known for its efforts to keep roadsides clean. “We take the initiative to keep roadsides free of unwanted shrubbery and garbage. When the roadsides are clean, people do not tend to dump garbage there,” said Mr. Jayadeesh.
Several other organisations in the district have also set up similar facilities at bus stops.
