The incidence and prevalence of COVID infection across India are a bit misleading because ‘proportionate-to-population' tests are not being conducted due to lack of facilities. Lately, Odisha has been testing huge numbers of COVID suspects. The test results are fairly reassuring as only one in a hundred is positive, most of them without symptoms or complications. Naveen Patnaik as the first CM to extend the lockdown period to the end of April has again shown the way to others. Modi and Naveen together can build a truly happy, safe and secure India.
Evidently the low-wrung police officials, sanitary workers, nurses and a majority of doctors are the real warriors as infantry in the army for they slug like crazy in the most dangerous conditions.
It is also true that some very tricky, sly public officials try to get glorified by confusing the media guys, who are news-hungry in a virtually no-activity period. In contrast, what really moved millions is the act of Andhra-cadre IAS officer Srijana Gummalla who sacrificed her six-month maternity leave and returned to work within just a week of giving birth to a baby. The young mother was back in office as commissioner of an urban body with the little baby in arm.
Similarly, the act of Dr Sudhanshu Bhushan Mohapatra, Additional District Medical Officer of Malkangiri in Odisha is praiseworthy for he lost his father in Ratnagiri village near Chandikhol but had no means at hand to travel 700 km to reach on time. So, he decided to stay back and serve the people and come later to attend the tenth or eleventh day rituals. Incidentally, Malkangiri District Magistrate Manish Agarwal is himself a role model. He had earlier put his wife in the remote tribal district hospital for delivering a baby. Dr Mohapatra may have been inspired by the young District Magistrate and come on record as a dedicated healthcare professional.
Most significantly, Arun Bothra, a 1996-batch Odisha-cadre IPS officer, has made Odisha people extremely proud. One Neha Sinha of Mumbai had tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet seeking supply of camel milk for her three-year-old autistic child, who survives on camel milk and pulses. Because of lockdown, she could not organise camel milk. Sinha’s tweet did not get any response from any authority. On April 6, one of Bothra’s followers on Twitter tagged him. Though very active on Twitter to help people in other matters, the ‘call for camel milk' moved him no end. He got into action instantly by activating his contacts to discover a company ‘Advik Foods' supplying camel milk in Mumbai. Bothra requested the company to help. Incidentally, the company owner had lost his father two days earlier. Still, he and his partner went out of their way to arrange the last available 400 grams of camel milk powder from a supplier in Andheri to tide over the immediate crisis. Mumbai had run out of stock. Bothra did not give up. His nonstop appeals on WhatsApp groups revealed that the Railways could help. So, he got in touch with Chief Passenger Transport Manager of North-West Railway Tarun Jain in Jaipur to seek transporting help. Tarun checked with his seniors and found that a parcel train running between Ludhiana and Bandra in Mumbai could carry the milk from Rajasthan. The milk stock was sourced at Sadri near Pali in Rajasthan and the nearest scheduled stop is Jodhpur. However, due to the lockdown, it was not possible for the supplier to reach Jodhpur. The compassionate railway authorities organised an unscheduled stop for the train at the Falna station where 20 litres of frozen camel milk and 20 kg of camel milk powder were loaded. Thus, the lifesaving milk finally reached Chembur on April 10. Bothra’s act of humanity now is part of history.