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HT Salutes: ‘Trained to nab those in masks, now makes them for the needy’
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
Police constable Sunni Meena’s day at the police station begins with dialling 25 senior citizens in the area to find out how they are doing. Before she leaves the police station 12 hours later, she has also stitched nearly 90 masks for donating to the needy.
In between these, the 32-year-old has performed her tasks as a guard outside the Greater Kailash police station, as an attendant at the helpdesk and as a data entry operator.
Stitch masks, however, was her initiative, one that inspired her colleagues, Gudiya Devi and Neelam, to take it up too.
When she returns home, she cooks for her family, ensures the children have completed their homework and are up to date with their online classes. Her husband, a railway employee, had a fractured hand and the burden of household chores has fallen on her. “I am working without weekly offs, but I shouldn’t complain at a time when the country needs me,” she says.
Having joined the force in 2009, the constable from Rajasthan has been into all kinds of policing activities, be it at the barricades or while pursuing criminals. “When I was posted at Jamia Nagar police station in 2015, I had posed as a decoy to arrest a kidnapper,” says Meena who was recognised by the deputy commissioner of police for her efforts at the time.
But as she embarks on fighting the virus in her own way, Meena knows what she is up against.
“When I return home from work, I leave my bag outside for two hours, then spend 30 minutes washing my clothes and bathing and then go back to spraying sanitiser on my bag. My children and husband shouldn’t have to bear the brunt of my choice of work,” Meena says.
She worries about her elderly mother, who lives in Rajasthan and is dependent on her financially. “I take time out to call her everyday and without hurry to make sure she is practising social distancing,” says Meena.
Meena owned a stitching machine and when the thought of making masks crossed her mind last week, she sought permission of her station house officer, who helped her buy the cloth, and took it to her workplace.
Her family is proud of her. “In fact, they wanted me to bring the masks for them. The masks are getting donated sooner than I make them, but I plan to make a few for them soon,” says Meena.
