VIZAG VOLUNTEERS

IMPACT: PEOPLE 4000+

Key ContributorKVT RAMESH - ₹ 100000

PROJECT VALUE₹ 148210

Railway Station Volunteering

Date: 5th Jun 2020 to 1st Jul 2020
Locations: Visakhapatanam Railway Station
Donors: Vizag Volunteers
Participated Volunteer: K.Satish, D A R Raju, Gatireddi Suresh, V.V. Praveen, A Dharma Rao, Rajesh Manchala, Kshatri Loknath Singh, Kari Mohit Santosh, Mohammad Ismail, Pranay Vivek T, L. Sudharshan, Ravi Raju, Anmish Varma, Someshwara Rao
Summary:
Visakhapatnam Railways Authority had assigned few government teachers to collect the details of people travelling from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam by Godavari Express. As the employees were small in number and the crowd were high, and the risk of covid was persisting, the Railway authority approached our organisation for volunteer support. A team of 40 Vizag Volunteers joined hands to undertake and accomplish this activity. This activity started on June 5th 2020, and continued till July 1st 2020. The volunteers served the Railway authority regularly from morning 5 am till 7:30 pm.

At the request of the Youth Services department in Visakhapatnam, Vizag Volunteers assigned 40 volunteers to the Visakhapatnam Railway station for screening of passengers at the Visakhapatnam Railway station. This task came when the number of cases in the country was on an upward trend due to ease of covid-19 restrictions as the country went into unlock mode.

Our volunteers had to arrive at the Railway station at 5 in the morning and collect the passengers' data on Godavari express. Our volunteers were allocated with compartment numbers, and the task was to note down the name, phone number, aadhar number and berth number of the passengers. Then, they would randomly select 4 to 5 people from each compartment for a swab test. Sometimes if any passengers showed any symptoms of covid-19, our volunteers sent them for a swab test. If any report returned positive, the railway authorities contacted the person and the seven passengers seated nearby to get isolated.

During this activity, it was of utmost importance for the volunteers working along with the Railways Police staff to take necessary precautions and safety measures against the virus. So, we provided masks, face shields, sanitizers, and gloves to every volunteer. We have also given masks and sanitizers to the staff of Road Transport Corporation, Auto drivers near the railway station, Government teachers, Railway employees, Sanitization staff, etc. We maintained absolute discipline by reaching the place by 5 AM, and the safety measures we have followed were appreciated by many, resulting in the completion of this challenging task successfully.

Gallery

Key Volunteers

Praveen Kumar

Anmish Varma

Vivek

Loknath Singh

Rajesh

Ravi Raju

Mohammad Ismail

How We Executed

Our day started at 5 AM where all the volunteers had to be assembled at the Railway station with their id cards. They would report at a place and were provided with Masks, Gloves, Faceshields, and hair caps, which acted as their only shield of protection.
Each volunteer was assigned one compartment. The train doors were closed when it arrived at the station, and the volunteers opened them after all the passengers were seated at their respective seats instead of rushing to the exit door. The passengers were asked to get down the train in ascending order of their seat number, and we noted down their details on a sheet. We sent four passengers at random for the covid-19 RTPCR test. Sometimes the selection was based on the symptoms shown by the passengers.
Once the last passenger got down, we used to wind up our day after they left the premises of the Railways station, and we used to doff our safety items.