The experience of a pregnant woman in Pathanamthitta seems to have wowed social media and is getting widely circulated as an example of the State’s welfare-oriented measures during the lockdown. Fathima Ashraf, a 24-year-old from Vettipuram in Pathanamthitta town, had a scare on April 2 when she was diagnosed with minor bleeding.
It emerged that her husband’s house was located in an elevated area where water supply was often hit and the pregnant woman had to walk all the way down and fetch water uphill, which probably triggered the bleeding.
MLA’s intervention
Later in the day, a bunch of Fire and Rescue Services personnel reached Ms. Ashraf’s house and filled the water storage tank there to the brim.
This was after the woman’s ordeal was shared in a WhatsApp group started by Veena George, MLA, for ensuring the well-being of women and children during the lockdown.
Ms. George contacted the Pathanamthitta fire and rescue services seeking a solution.
“We could think of just one solution, which was to supply water at her doorstep. So, we washed our 5,000-litre capacity tanker and filled it with water from our KWA supply line,” said V. Vinod Kumar, Station Officer, Fire and Rescue Services, Pathanamthitta.
A tough task
Supplying the water proved to be a tough task as the house was situated at an elevation of around 200 metres from the nearest road. The fire and rescue services personnel connected four long delivery hoses to pump water into the storage tanker at Ms. Ashraf’s house.
“They filled our storage tank with a capacity of around 2,000 litres. Thankfully, water supply has since been restored,” said Habeeb Mohammed, Ms. Ashraf’s father-in-law.
