IIT-KGP students come forward to help poor during lockdown

As people in the unorganised sector are finding it hard to make both ends meet amid the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, a group of students of IIT-Kharagpur has started providing food and protective gears to the poor in villages around their campus. The Gopali Youth Welfare Society, an entity which the students had formed earlier to undertake community projects in the neighbourhood of the campus, is distributing essential items to around 2,000 poor families under the Gopali gram panchayat, a member of the organisation said.

"The items that we have been distributing to each household are 3 kg rice, 500 gram onions, 2 kg potato, 100 gram soya bean to ensure nutrition of children and other members of the poor families in this crisis period," a student of the institute and spokesman of the entity Anurag Modi said.

Volunteers of the organisation are distributing these items door-to-door to prevent gatherings, he said, adding that hand sanitiser and masks are also being given to maintain hygiene and safety, which are essential now to fight against the coronavirus outbreak. In addition, 500 masks were also provided to ASHA (accredited social health activist) workers, police and staff at BDO and SDO offices, he said.

"We will also distribute 1,000 masks among students, parents, teachers and workers of Jagriti Vidya Mandir, a school initiated by the organisation for the poor children living near the campus area years back," he said.