Indian Youth Congress chief BV Srinivas visits COVID facility set up by NGO Prayas, lauds efforts made by it

At a time when the government seems to be totally missing in action to protect the lives of people from the raging pandemic, it is NGOs and organisations like the Indian Youth Congress that are providing succor to the people.

Prayas, an NGO that has been working for the rights of children and weaker sections of the society for the last 32 years, got a surprise visitor yesterday when the Indian Youth Congress president BV Srinivas paid a visit to its Geeta Colony Isolation Centre to get a COVID patient admitted.

Said Avinash, in-charge of the facility, "Srinivas had arrived at our centre at about 9 PM but once there he went around the entire two storey building asking about the condition of the patients admitted there. Since it was dinner time, he even took keen interest in the kind of food they were being given and seemed highly impressed."

Srinivas, who has already become widely known due to IYC’s relief efforts in these difficult times, also declared that he wanted to donate an ambulance to the NGO for ferrying patients.

"Keep the ambulance for 6 months or till whatever time you need but you must promise that it will be used free and never put for commercial use," he said.

He also promised to help in any other way required in the future.

Talking about the visit, Amod Kanth, founder general secretary of Prayas said, "Such gestures are very encouraging for our staff who have been working very hard for the last one year on the ground to provide succor to the poor, homeless and the migrants."

In the last one year, the NGO has:

1. Served 0.63 million cooked meals to people affected by COVID-19

2. Donated ventilators to Hindu Rao Hospital, Delhi

3. 11,340 Families in Delhi, Bihar, Rajasthan and Gujarat have been provided family ration kits on a monthly basis for 4 months

4. A Community Health Centre, Primary Health Centre and Quarantine Centre in Lohit and Namsai districts of Arunachal Pradesh have been set up under the government’s National Health Mission.

With branches in 10 States and UTs, Prayas has also set up ‘Isolation centres’ at Geeta Colony (east Delhi), Tughlaqbad (south Delhi), Jahangirpuri (north Delhi) and Chota Bazaar (north east Delhi).

In addition, it is in the process of setting up similar isolation centres in Samastipur, Motihari, Bettiah and Patna in Bihar), Jaipur and Ranchi.