Kolkata: After conquering peaks, climbers join hands to win Covid battle

KOLKATA: They have battled many insurmountable odds to conquer peaks. Now they are attempting to fight the pandemic by dipping into their savings to help people in distress. From arranging for safe homes, oxygen cylinders and Covid-19 helplines, mountaineers are doing their bit in the fight against the virus.
Bengal Police officer Rudraprasad Haldar, also a member of the mountaineering club, Arohi, in Sonarpur, and fellow climbers and trekkers have started an oxygen support service in the South 24 Parganas town.Apart from opening a safe home on the club premises, they have started providing oxygen support to patients. “We have started a helpline. Volunteers are working 24x7 in three shifts. A team of doctors is in touch with volunteers,” said Haldar. They are also reaching medicines to patients. Most of the 22 volunteers are mountaineers and adventure lovers. In the past two decades, Haldar has climbed several peaks, including Everest and Kanchenjunga. “Our volunteers, like Chayan Chatterjee, Avik Mandal and Jay Mandal, are all climbers and trekkers,” he added.
Satyarup Siddhanta, another mountaineer and Guinness record holder as the youngest to have climbed seven summits and seven volcanic summits, is a founder member of Covid Care Network. The organization, which started with a Covid helpline in July last year, has set up five safe homes in Birbhum, Taki, Burdwan and the Sunderbans. “We are using cyclone shelter homes and community spaces as Covid care facilities where mild to moderate patients can be treated,” Siddhanta said. CCN is providing oxygen on wheels service in 15 districts.
Debraj Dutta, who along with Siddhanta and Haldar climbed Mt Everest in 2016, is one of the few climbers to have conquered three peaks in Siachen. Dutta and his club Behala Hindustan Sangha started providing food and medicines to Covid patients last year. “We have been reaching oxygen to people’s home in Behala-Hindustan Park area,” Dutta said.