A ‘resistant army’ of volunteers has been helping an eastern Assam district combat a pandemic and two concurrent disasters — flood and a blazing blowout natural gas well untamed for almost two months.
Shiladitya Chetia, the Superintendent of Police of Tinsukia district, had to take some of his men off COVID-19 duty for crowd control at Baghjan where an Oil India Limited (OIL) well burst into flames a fortnight after it experienced a blowout on May 22. Protests over the accident and resultant ecological damage also warranted protection of other exploration sites of the oil major.
He looked no further than Protirodhi Bondhu, meaning Resistant Friends, a community-based volunteer force the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) had formed soon after the nationwide lockdown began from March 25.
“They have been a force multiplier, helping the administration and the police in controlling crowds, enforcing COVID-19 protocols, rescuing flood-affected people and providing other non-medical services,” Mr. Chetia told The Hindu .
The volunteers, mostly 18-to-21-years-old students, also stepped in when 35 police personnel and home guards tested COVID-19 positive.
Protirodhi Bondhu members in green jackets controlling crowed at the Siding wholesale market in Tinsukia town (first photo), salvaging belongings and helping people out of submerged areas (second and fourth photos), handling crowd at the Baghjan natural gas well blaze site and checking temperature of customer at a bank. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
“We have 245 volunteers, 30 of whom are girls, providing an array of services from checking people’s temperature and adherence to COVID-19 protocols at an entry point for buses and trucks to regulating the movement of people at Tinsukia’s Siding wholesale market and banks,” said Ruby Gogoi, District Project Officer of ASDMA.
Doctor’s cremation
The authorities had doubts about the ability, attitude and sincerity of the volunteers when applications were sought in April. Some 16,000 registered but 14,000 were selected with 5,500 presently engaged in different activities by the District Disaster Management Authorities across the State.
“In many cases, the parents came forward to enlist their wards who they felt could be engaged in some socially-relevant activities instead of poring over their mobile phones. These young people exceeded our expectations,” Ms. Gogoi said.
One of the first tests was handling a returnee transgender who refused to wear a mask or go into mandatory quarantine. Some volunteers talked her into following the rules after the police failed.
On July 15, five volunteers cremated Pradip Kumar Sharma, a popular 75-year-old doctor who died of COVID-19, after the municipal workers refused to conduct the last rites. One of them conducted the rituals when a priest backed out.
“It was the first cremation of a COVID-19 patient. The five volunteered, but we took their parents’ approval and made them undergo training on how to go about the job,” Ms. Gogoi said, adding more boys have volunteered for similar assignments.
For a certificate
Pratirodhi Bondhu has been the brainchild of Pankaj Chakravarty, ASDMA’s State Project Coordinator. Introduced in April, it envisaged utilising the services of able-bodied and outgoing youths for community welfare and non-medical services in coordination with the government.
“We made it clear this was a voluntary service, not involving any fee, and that each would be given a certificate at the end of their engagement from 10 to 60 days. The selection criteria included Class X passed as a minimum qualification, and no criminal background,” he said.
ASDMA and UNICEF provided online training before the volunteers began working. In Tinsukia district, the Army was also roped in for training.
