Kakinada: Ward volunteers demand safety kits, insurance cover

Kakinada: Ward volunteers of 50 divisions in the city staged a dharna at Pensioners Bhavan at MRO Office here on Thursday demanding insurance cover besides quality masks and sanitisers for the prevention of coronavirus since they are involved in high-risk job of visiting homes of various beneficiaries to deliver ration.

Speaking on behalf of volunteers, a volunteer T Varaprasad said that they were putting their lives at risk as they have to personally visit various households in their purview. Apart from collecting data from beneficiaries and sharing the same with the government, volunteers are exposed to suspected patients since they deliver ration at beneficiary's doorstep. Volunteers demanded the government to treat them on par with frontline health workers like sanitation staff, paramedics and nurses, ASHA workers and doctors, who are working to tackle the Covid-19 and face the highest risk of contracting the illness.

"Similar to them, we are demanding Rs 50 lakh insurance cover to each volunteer since we are performing a high risk job," says T Varaprasad, a ward volunteer.

On the other hand, volunteers are annoyed with non-cooperation of rations dealers. In wake of lockdown, the government had instructed ward volunteers to distribute the ration to the beneficiaries at their doorstep. They claim that government has allotted 50 houses to each volunteer but the ration dealers are reluctant to give necessary groceries since there is no clear-cut notice from the government on the quantum of ration to each house. Another volunteer, M Dhanesh said that government is providing Rs 500 as transport charges but they are unable to distribute the ration to the beneficiaries as most of the vehicles are off-the-roads. "Due to lockdown, some women volunteers are not turning up for work, putting extra burden on male volunteers," rues Dinesh.