Going beyond their traditional duties of maintaining law and order, the Delhi division of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has taken it upon itself to provide humanitarian relief to citizens of the Capital. They have distributed more than three lakh packets of cooked meals in over 20 locations in Delhi, apart from providing dry rations to more than 2,000 families in the national Capital. According to the RPF, this was made possible with the coordination of IRCTC and NGOs as they have managed to provide dry rations to families in remote areas where transportation of cooked food was not possible. The Delhi division of the RPF has also set up a full fledged kitchen in four locations across Delhi. This the RPF say was done by pooling in their resources, where everything from sourcing raw materials to cooking and then distribution of food is being done by the officials of the RPF in Delhi.
Harish Singh Papola Security Commissioner of RPF, Delhi Division speaking to The Daily Guardian said, “The Delhi division of RPF is providing 17,000 cooked meals everyday from which 3500 meals are provided by IRCTC and some by the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara in Delhi and NGOs while rest is all prepared by the kitchens operated by RPF. Parle-G is also helping us with 4 lakh biscuit packets. The Delhi RPF has contributed over 12% of the total cooked meals provided by the RPF across the country. We are distributing these meals to people near the stations, to the homeless people and also to the slum clusters that reside across the railway lines. It is time to travel the extra mile and be dedicated soldiers in India’s fight against Covid-19.” Apart from this the RPF has also set up two quarantine centres in the National capital where suspected Covid patients are being kept. The two quarantine centres which have a capacity of housing 90 patients are currently hosting 70 such Covid suspect patients.
The two quarantine centres set up by the RPF are located in Tughlaqabad area and in Daya Basti. As part of RPF’s Community Capacity Building Programme against Covid-19, the Delhi division of the RPF has also been training volunteers from the slum areas in small batches by intensive use of technology and these training includes creating awareness, community watch and help in times of emergency. “As part of our Community Capacity Building Programme we have selected volunteers from the slum areas and trained them. This started at the Brar Square in Delhi where we selected a slum cluster where more than 2500 people are living, we trained over 25 volunteers who would create awareness amongst the residents here, they are also maintaining a data base of all the needy, the pregnant women, elderly and infants to help them in time of emergency. These volunteers also acts as a bridge amongst the community and the force.” Harish. Singh told The Daily Guardian. The RPF has also been making masks and hand sanitizers on their own. The masks are being made using fresh cloth by the family members of the volunteers selected by the RPF for capacity building while these masks are being distributed amongst the poor and the residents of slum clusters in Delhi.