A team of volunteers that has undertaken a journey by road across the country to mobilise help for people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic reached the city on Tuesday.
The ‘Road Ashram’ campaign, led by a group of like-minded socially conscious and road-friendly citizens, has traversed a nearly 25,000 km borderline spread across 30 states, in about 60 days in a specially modified car.
According to a press note, the team has travelled along the China and Nepal borders in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In Kolkata and Sikkim, they also met with eminent personalities and influencers. They have also covered Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur,Tripura, Sunderban in West Bengal and Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
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In Puducherry, they aim to engage and meet people from different walks of life on Wednesday and gauge the humanitarian impact of Covid and the restrictions imposed because of social distancing.
According to the team, alongside the medical crisis and the safety measures, there has also been tremendous damage to the social security structures. With innumerable people being rendered jobless, healthcare has become difficult for families while children too have been affected due to lack of timely immunisation.
The purpose of Road Ashram is to ensure that the impact of the pandemic is not measured solely in terms of a medical crisis by drawing attention to all these stories of people everywhere, according to Siddhartha Dutta, who is the team navigator.
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Ahmer Siddiqui, who is behind the wheels, said the name of the campaign derived from the idea of staying on the road in a customised car.