E-Paper
Man who lost job due to lockdown now serves district admin as volunteer
Gurugram:
Gurugram:
Rakesh Bajaj, who was rendered jobless due to the Covid-19 lockdown, is busy these days making calls to different private hospitals to collect details of admitted Covid-19 patients, number of beds, and availability of ventilators, among others.
“It is a recent task that I have been assigned by the district administration, as the number of Covid-19 cases in Gurugram has rapidly increased in the past few days,” said Bajaj, 39, who has been serving the district administration as volunteer for the past two months.
Not only has he served cooked meals and dry rations to migrant workers, but also ensured their safe departure by Shramik Special trains in April and May, even if it required giving 10-15 hours a day.
Bajaj was recently appreciated as an unsung hero by the district administration for his selfless work. “Rakesh Bajaj, a 39 year old man who lost his job during Covid-19 lockdown. He is heading a team of 9 volunteers of QRT with MCG. Never asked for a leave and giving 15 hours a day in the record breaking heat,” the deputy commissioner’s office said in a tweet on May 28.
At present, about 500 volunteers are helping the district administration deal with the Covid-19 crisis.
Having spent more than a decade in Gurugram working as supervisor with different companies, Bajaj’s last job was with a construction company where he handled workers and labourers at the construction site.
Like others, Bajaj could not comprehend the criticality of the situation when Janta Curfew was imposed on March 22. “Till that time, we had no idea that we are heading towards a situation which can cost my job, and leave many people helpless,” said Bajaj.
As all the work came to a halt due to the nationwide lockdown and workers started leaving for their native towns, the construction site where Bajaj worked was also shut. His employer asked him to stay at home and gave some money.
“I had sufficient saving. I knew that I could sustain for three-four months,” said Bajaj.
The situation, however, made him think of construction workers who were dependent on daily wages for survival. A few days after he was laid off, a WhatsApp message circulated by the administration regarding the requirement of volunteers reached Bajaj.
“The decision was easy. I applied for it. Everything was in the nascent stage at the time. I was asked to distribute cooked meals at that time,” he said.
“I believe if you can’t help people with money then there are other ways to end their plight,” he said, calling these words of his mother, who is a retired school teacher.
Bajaj, who has a 12 -year-old son and a 65-year-old mother in the family, devoted almost 15 hours a day to help the needy. He, along with his team of nine volunteers of quick response team, was assigned the duty to provide cooked meals to workers, not only those who were leaving the city but also those who stayed back.
Reminiscing some of the moments while working as volunteer, Bajaj said, “It was heart wrenching to see migrants huddled under Rajiv Chowk flyover. Around midnight, we reached there with food, glucose and water to help them. But we couldn’t stop them from moving as they were prepared to walk a distance of 700 kilometres. Every day I watched kids walking with their families, unware of the miles they had to cover.”
He was later assigned the duty to ensure proper food supply to people, who were leaving by special trains. “For the past few weeks, since Shramik Special trains started, I was stationed at Tau Devi Lal Stadium in the first half of the day, managing registration of people to their departure via buses to the railway station. Then coordinating with the team to ensure that the migrants get food and water before leaving,” he said.
Bajaj now hopes to be able to get job with the lockdown lifting while continuing to volunteer for as long as required.
