E-Paper
Mulshi: Activists arrange free buses for villagers to take the jab
With no connectivity, issues with the transport system and no Covid-19 vaccination centre in their villages –residents of Paud and 28 other villages in Mulshi taluka were clueless on how to get vaccinated until Ankush More – an activist decided to arrange a free bus ride service to the vaccination centre
With no connectivity, issues with the transport system and no Covid-19 vaccination centre in their villages –residents of Paud and 28 other villages in Mulshi taluka were clueless on how to get vaccinated until Ankush More – an activist decided to arrange a free bus ride service to the vaccination centre.
A resident has to travel a minimum of 50 kilometres to get vaccinated at the village Male or Ambavane. More and other activists came out with the plan and now everyday 100 residents (senior citizens and 45 plus) are getting vaccinated since March 30. Until now 400 residents have been vaccinated.
Most of these villages are in the back side of the Mulshi dam which makes transport connectivity a problem. There are 600 active Covid-19 cases in Mulshi taluka.
“Last Friday, the vaccination centre had few issues so we did not take the villagers for vaccination otherwise the process is going smoothly. Most of the senior citizens in villages are living alone as their children are in cities so we are making sure that these people do not suffer and get vaccinated,” said Ankush More an activist and working president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Mulshi taluka.
The total population of these villages are around 23,000. Near these villages there are also 42 small hamlets where most of the people work in farms.
“We will be covering these people as well under the vaccination. Our members are reaching out to them personally and explaining the importance of vaccination,” said More.
The buses will continue to provide service for two more months. Prior to a day before going to the vaccination, activists collect the list of members and submit it to the vaccination centres and accordingly everything is organised at the centre.
“The bus system was a must otherwise these villagers might have ignored the vaccination process because state transport buses are not that frequent. This initiative is giving good promotion to vaccination drives and senior citizens who are taking vaccines are also promoting it nicely so villagers who were afraid to take vaccines are now coming in big numbers. Two days ago, we vaccinated 170 people in a day,” said Dr Sambhaji Satpute health department head, Ambavane.
“The main purpose of starting the centre at Mulshi Khurd and Male was to reduce distance so more people come for vaccination,” added Satpute.
Even before the rise of Covid-19, these activists used to run free ambulance service for villagers.
“Our main aim was to get more and more people to get vaccinated. Once we are providing them transport service for free, they are getting ready to get vaccinated,” said Mahadeo Kondhare, president of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Mulshi taluka.
