It took Mumbai about a month to control and overcome the spread of coronavirus- from 11,000-plus cases to less than 4,000. That was in April 2021 and understandably this stellar achievement was appreciated in all quarters. In contrast, during this time Delhi was going through its worst phase in Covid 19 management- with daily cases shooting up to 30,000-plus cases and with no respite in sight.
But thankfully, things have started changing for good in Delhi too. The “horror’’ in the nation’s capital, marked by death & mayhem all over, continued right till the first fortnight of May. These were the days full of panic, fear, and dark foreboding when getting an oxygen cylinder or a hospital bed seemed an almost impossible task, no matter how rich or well-connected a patient’s family might be.
It was an atmosphere of total chaos and mismanagement at all levels.
Enter Muktesh Chander
But in a social system, things don’t improve on their own without an external catalyst- just as they don’t collapse on their own without contributing factors. In the case of Delhi, a number of IPS officials played an important role in bringing normalcy back into the capital.
One of them is a senior Delhi Police official Mr. Muktesh Chander. He is the nodal officer, appointed by the Delhi Government, to oversee the smooth procurement of oxygen for the city. As he told our correspondent Pallavi Priya, “We have been arranging oxygen for Delhi from places as far as Jamnagar and Uttarakhand. The oxygen-carrying vehicles are properly secured by us, by way of pilots and escorts, so that it reaches the capital without any delay. Once the oxygen cylinders arrive in the capital, it becomes the job of the Delhi Government and other agencies to distribute these to various hospitals.’’
MULTI-TASKING BY DELHI POLICE
Thanks to the efforts made by Mr. Chander and his team, the severe oxygen shortage in Delhi has become a thing of the past. This obviously has brought down the death toll too, as also panic among the residents.
The role of the Delhi Police went much beyond safely bringing oxygen to the city. As Mr. Chander points out, “the police has the all-important task of ensuring Covid appropriate behavior by the people. We also keep things in check at places such as hospitals and oxygen refilling centers.’’
As the senior IPS officer pointed out, lots of frauds had been taking place in Delhi- both in the supply of oxygen towards medicine. In this connection, the police even busted rackets involving fake oxygen cylinders, medicine, and concentraters.
Besides launching Covid helpline, the police have also been taking action against those charging exorbitant amounts for ambulances or not filling the oxygen cylinders properly, Mr. Chander added.
No doubt all these measures, along with those taken by other agencies, mitigated the Covid 19 situation in the national capital.
OXYGEN ATM
There have been several instances of police officials making individual efforts to reach out to the affected people. One of them who deserves a special mention is senior IPS officer Mr. Robin Hibu.
A number of Covid 19 patients from North-East India who have been under home quarantine in Delhi have been in dire need of oxygen. To cater specially to these people, whose loneliness must have been much greater as they have been living far away from their real homes, Mr. Hibu has set up what he calls AN “Oxygen ATM”.
Anybody from the North-East residing in Delhi and in need of oxygen can get it from the Oxygen ATM, says Mr. Hibu. Speaking with our correspondent Bhakti Kothari, this is what he said:
“I received a lot of requests for oxygen from people who were in home isolation. We, the Helping Hands organization, decided to open an ‘Oxygen ATM’ for the North-Eastern people residing in Delhi, who were affected by the virus and were under home quarantine.”
Furthermore, the senior IPS officer said that he launched a 24×7 helpline number for those who needed the oxygen ATM (9810083486) where the patient could send their name, their Covid quarantine certificate, and their RT-PCR report through WhatsApp to receive oxygen through the ‘ATM’ for 3-4 days until a further arrangement could be made.
“We have helped over 200 people through this already and I would appeal to anyone who is in need of oxygen to ping us so that we can help them. We also have oxygen kits for people who are not able to arrange cylinders.”
Like Mr. Mukesh Chander and Mr. Robin Hibu, there are several other officials – and they include a number of unsung heroes as well- who have burnt midnight oil and left no stone unturned to fight off the dreaded virus. And it’s because of their combined efforts that a turnaround is being witnessed in Delhi.
But the city is still not out of the woods. As a wise man once quipped, while keeping his fingers firmly crossed, “so far so good’’.
