E-Paper
Singularly focused on Covid relief activities: Congress
About 100 activists of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) have been working round the clock in the national Capital monitoring the availability of beds in hospitals while a smaller group manages a Covid control room that receives calls from people looking for help
About 100 activists of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) have been working round the clock in the national Capital monitoring the availability of beds in hospitals while a smaller group manages a Covid control room that receives calls from people looking for help.
IYC’s central office on New Delhi’s Raisina Road has, for the past 14 months, been the nerve centre of wide-ranging relief activities amid the pandemic. From mask and sanitiser distribution in the early days of Covid-19 in 2020, the activists are now involved in the daily struggle for getting hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and plasma since the second wave of the pandemic hit the country and overwhelmed its health infrastructure.
Also Read | BJP leader names ‘author’ of Congress ‘toolkit’
“We have a dedicated team of workers who track the availability of beds and when someone calls us for admission to hospitals, we try to send them to hospitals where beds are available. While the bigger hospitals are entirely occupied, we often locate beds in smaller hospitals,” said Srinivas BV, the president of the IYC, who was among the nine politicians questioned by the Delhi police for allegedly hoarding oxygen cylinders and medicines.
Congress functionaries said they are now singularly focused on Covid relief activities as no elections are round the corner. The party has sought donations from resourceful leaders and asked its lawmakers to provide at least two ambulances in their areas. The party has also formed Covid-19 control rooms across the country.
A committee, headed by former Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, has held at least four meetings to discuss the Covid situation.
The Youth Congress has been equipped with five ambulances and three hearses. “Ambulances were quoting exorbitant amounts to ferry patients. That is why we decided to have our own ambulances,” said Srinivas.
The funds for the relief measures are coming from states such as Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, the functionaries said. “The state Congress committees are raising resources themselves. We know for sure Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Telangana, Kerala and Jharkhand are doing it themselves,” said a Congress leader.
The party has its main Covid control room on New Delhi’s Gurdwara Rakabganj Road. It has asked its state units to established state command centres for relief works.
The IYC has asked all its members to donate money for the cause. “Many of our members have also donated blood,” said Srinivas.
The Congress’s relief works are not entirely without their share of problems. “Sometimes, people demand that we get them admitted to big, south Delhi hospitals. We tell them, not possible but they refuse to listen,” said Srinivas.
