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HT Salutes: ‘Refused to take leave, works 14-hour days’
HT Salutes: In the fight against the contagious Covid-19, public servants have been working round the clock, sometimes even breaking the clock, to keep the wheels of the government moving. Here, we take a look at those knocking on doors, serving the underprivileged, ensuring everyone has a mask, and even readying a hospital
Ravi Chandran, 56, works as an assistant scrutiny officer in the recruitment cell of the Delhi government’s directorate of education (DoE). His job is to screen applications for school staff. He used to do the job from an office at a plush government building just behind the Vidhan Sabha in north Delhi.
Now, from 8am until 10pm, you will find Chandran at the Government Boys Senior Secondary School in east Delhi’s Ghazipur, which has now a shelter for migrant workers since the nationwide lockdown took effect on March 25.
Chandran has been deputed as warden of the shelter which houses over 400 people.
Inside a tin shed equipped with a table and chair as his office, Chandran is trying to ensure meals are served on time, rooms, toilets and bathrooms disinfected frequently, and social distancing is practised at all times.
He is not complaining. When the sub-divisional magistrate recently asked him to take a day off, he actually refused.
“It is a scenario that has never occurred in any of our lives. I can’t think of sitting at home now. There is always so much to do,” Chandran said.
Some of the inmates have no money, would have nothing to eat and nowhere to go if they were to leave the shelter, Chandran said.He is making plans to take care of that.
“I have kept aside some money from my March salary. Now, I am collecting money from my friends and colleagues at a personal level. I will give them Rs 500-1,000 when they leave the facility. The end of the lockdown is haunting them and having been with them for two weeks, I know their concern is genuine,” Chandran said.
Last week, he pooled money with his colleagues to buy around 450 masks for everyone in the shelter.
“My wife tells me that working 14 hours every day without any offs and living in the danger of contracting the virus is a lot of public service already. I reasoned with her that the government cannot help at such a micro level. You cannot turn a blind eye to an adversity, can you,” Chandran said, stepping out to buy shampoo sachets for some inmates who refused to bathe if they didn’t get shampoo along with the usual soaps.
