Manipur woman auto driver drove 140 km in the night to drop a Covid patient, rewarded

The woman auto driver has also inspired documentary films that have been awarded in the past.

A woman auto driver, who volunteered to drop a recovered Covid-19 patient from Imphal to a hill town in Manipur undertaking an eight hours long journey covering over 140 kms, was given a cash reward of Rs 1,10,000 on Thursday.

The woman auto driver was paid a cash reward by the government.(Sourced Photo)

Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh led a team of MLAs and other well wishers, who handed over the reward to the inspirational woman in Imphal, said officials from chief minister’s secretariat. MLAs L Surindro (Yasikul), Th Satyabarta (Yaiskul) and H Dingo (Sekmai) were also present during the felicitation.

“The cash reward was sponsored by some entrepreneurs from Manipur along with the Diaspora in US, UK, Canada and Singapore as an encouragement for her humane and heroic act and service,” a statement from CM’s secretariat said.

The woman auto-driver cum street vendor, Laibi Oinam, dropped a recovered Covid-19 patient--after her discharge from JNIMS hospital in Imphal-- to Kamjong district headquarters, around 140 km north east of Imphal in the intervening night of Mau 31 and June 1.

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Laibi Oinam, a resident of Pangei Bazaar in Manipur’s Imphal East district, is mother of two sons and the sole breadwinner of the family.

A documentary film based on her life titled ‘Auto Driver’ won many accolades including the award for best social issue film in the non-feature category at the 63rd National Film Awards in 2015 and the award for the best short documentary in the audience choice category at the 2017 Women’s Voices Now Film Festival.

Meanwhile, the total number of Covid-19 positive cases in Manipur has increased to 366 including 293 active cases, officials said.

31 persons were confirmed positive at VRDL, RIMS (Regional Institute of Medical Sciences) last night, while 24 others were confirmed positive later at VRDLs of JNIMS (Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences) and RIMS on Thursday, according to the two press releases issued by the Covid 19 common control room of the state government.

The fresh positive cases are said to be returnees from other states.