The Covid-19 crisis has given us unforgettable experiences and numerous lessons as well. Or one, we have learnt to stop taking our life and environment for granted. While this crisis highlighted many failures of our system and the health infrastructure, at the same time it gave us many heroes. These heroes were not larger than life; but they were just sensitive enough to feel the pain of others. And they rose to the challenges posed by the virus.
One of these heroes is senior IPS officer Mr Subhash Chandra Dubey. The DIG of Azamgarh range, Uttar Pradesh, he believed it was the high time the people should stop cribbing about the shortfalls and instead focus on positivity.
In conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr Dubey asserted that any battle can be won with positive mindset.
He is Always One Tweet Away
Being the DIG, Mr. Dubey has many responsibilities. Then, times and crisis like these only burdened him more with work. While ensuring the lockdown norms and maintaining law & order is his first priority, he could not separate himself from the suffering of the people.
Talking about it, Mr Dubey said, “Imposing lockdown was the need of the hour. The cases were increasing exponentially and it was the only way to curb the cases. However, lockdown brings many other challenges with it. A large chunk of people become helpless in regard to their basic needs, which also includes making an earning for their families. At the same time, people were also struggling to give best possible treatment to their family members. The unavailability of beds in the hospital and oxygen crisis is not hidden from anybody”.
Watching all of these developments, Mr. Dubey decided to help the needy with whatever he could manage. He shouted out a message, through social media, that anyone in need could reach him and he would help them. Soon thereafter, his inbox was filled with hundreds of requests. Many well-known faces like RJ Richa Anirudh, Kumar Viswas, Journalists like Rubika Liyaqat also approached him for helping people- especially in the Azamgarh region.
On their requests, Mr. Dubey not only arranged vehicles for the patients but also helped in arranging the beds in hospital and oxygen cylinders. In some cases he took help of his subordinates to reach out to the patients and sometimes he even went to see them himself.
Being Covid +ve also didn’t stop him
Amidst this crisis, Mr. Dubey was also contracted the virus. The first few days of the illness were hard on him, but he didn’t back out from his commitments. He managed everything through phone calls, thus making himself available to the people in need.
Says the police officer: “As it is said ‘Man ke hare har hai aur Man kejeete jeet’, this time we need to be strong for ourselves and others. All this while we criticized others for our sufferings, but this was a collective fight. Every individual should do their bit, only then can we win. If we are winning, it is because of all those people who didn’t lose hope and stood for others.’’
Annapurna Bank
Even during the first wave of Covid-19, Mr Dubey came forward for the help of others. He and his team started Annapurna Bank and distributed raw foods to around one lakh families. The officer himself distributed more than 10 thousand packets of food. He also ensured every kind of help to the families of his police force so that their moral did not go down.
Among other things, Mr. Dubey is now motivating his sub-ordinates and followers to remain fit on priority bases- in their fight against coronavirus.