Covid-19 Pandemic: Relief Work by NPRD Affiliates

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the countrywide lockdown, various state affiliates of the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) have within their limits and capacity worked to provide relief to the disabled people in particular and the poor and marginalized at large.

In West Bengal, the Paschim Banga Rajya Pratibandhi Sammilini has till now provided dry rations, hand sanitizers, bathing soap, face masks etc. in 16 districts in the state both to the disabled as well as the poor. In some districts its members have donated blood in designated district hospitals. It is also distributing medicines to the needy disabled, elderly and those with chronic illness. Side by side it is also pressuring the administration in the districts to ensure that the relief measures announced by the government are executed.

It has approached the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for bulk purchase of foodgrains for distribution in the state.

In various districts of Tamilnadu, volunteers of the Tamilnadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled & Their Caregivers (TARATDAC) is reaching out to the needy disabled and providing them with dry ration kits. Volunteers from the Dec. 3 Movement have also been reaching to disabled people in various districts of the state and have been providing dry rations. Both these affiliates from Tamilnadu have also taken up with the government and the disability affairs department various issues concerning the disabled in relation to the Covid pandemic and the lockdown.

In many districts of Telangana, our volunteers are distributing cooked food, dry rations to disabled people as also stranded migrant workers.

In Andhra Pradesh volunteers of our affiliate are distributing dry rations in many districts.

In Karnataka, in collaboration with various other disability organisations, volunteers of the Karnataka Rajya Angavikalara Hagoo Palakara Okkuta have distributed ration kits to disabled persons in Bengaluru and some other districts.

In Kerala, our affiliate, the Differently Abled-Welfare Federation has been assisting in the state government’s efforts to reach the various measures it has put in place to provide relief to the people, including the disabled.

In Delhi we had been working in the communal violence hit areas of North East Delhi as a collective with a few other organisations. This work has continued after the lockdown. To those families headed by disabled individuals identified during the violence, we have provided dry rations either directly or in collaboration with other organisatons.

In some cases, we have transferred money to individuals where we were unable to reach them, for the purpose of procuring ration. A few families whose houses were burnt and belongings destroyed and were unable to afford house-rent, we have provided them house rent also.

We are now part of a larger collective, coordinating and collaborating the relief efforts for disabled people.

In several districts of Haryana, volunteers of the Haryana Viklang Adhikar Manch have been educating people on the pandemic, especially the disabled.

They have also been distributing face masks and have been working with the administration in various districts to help reach relief to the needy.Contact persons in the states, given in alphabetical order: