As the fourth phase of lockdown kicks in the All India Professional Congress (AIPC) is reaching out to the needy by providing food, medical aid and helping in online education during these difficult times.
AIPC coordinator Szarita Laitphlang told that the East Zone of AIPC which covers Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Mizoram and Mpur is finding innovative ways to reach out to people and help them retain their dignity.
"Under the leadership of AIPC Chairman Shashi Tharoor AIPC has introduced an initiative of creating livelihood for housewives, where hundreds of washable masks are being made every day for which they get paid Rs 3 per mask," she said.
"Accordingly, these masks are then distributed free of cost to all the migrants throughout the state. In Gaya district, a team of three doctors is travelling in various areas to screen people with basic checkup facilities free of cost. In Madhub district, volunteers from AIPC, who are teachers, have started online tutorials for children," she added.
In the neighbouring state of Jharkhand, doctors belonging to the orgsation are providing free online health counselling. While in Chhattisgarh, AIPC members and volunteers provided meals to close to 70,000 migrant workers.
It is also raising issues being faced by the people, for example, AIPC recently requested the government to bring down the cost of COVID-19 testing kits to make them more affordable.
According to Laitphlang,"These are difficult times and we must accept the ground realities of life. Most of the migrant workers are not even able to manage even one square meal a day on their own and as professionals, it is important for us to reach out to as many of them as possible."
The fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown began on Monday. The Centre issued a notification in this regard on Sunday, extending the curbs for two more weeks, till May 31.
( With inputs from ANI )