Once hailed as saviours, now left on the streets

Thiruvananthapuram: During the height of Covid pandemic Sreekuttan S left his job at Technopark to help people affected by the virus. He joined the Covid brigade team as a volunteer. However, he was later sent away from the Covid brigade and did not even receive payment for six months. There are a total of 22,000 such volunteers across Kerala who aided the state during the crisis.These volunteers were the ones who forgot all their personal matters in order to serve the people during the pandemic.
Now, the volunteers who got dismissed from Covid brigade are on a day-night strike in front of the Secretariat. The volunteers from almost every district from Kerala are participating in the protest.
They have been on strike since Tuesday and said that they will continue till they get justice. The needs they put forward are the complete payment of their incentives and to grant them a government job.
The volunteers said that they should be given priorities in government public health sectors. Even though the authorities informed them that the incentives of three months will be paid soon, the protestors are not happy with this decision as the incentives are pending for the past six months and more.
“When the pandemic reached its peak stage, the prominent personalities, including the chief minister, used to praise us during news conferences. Now, they dismissed us for futile reasons. Almost all volunteers in this team are from financially backward families and this job is an essential survival option for us. There are also people like me who quit their job in order to help our state. We have submitted petitions to all the respected authorities, including the health minister. Since there are no results, we are on a strike. If the government again fails to give us justice, we will surely go on a hunger strike. The government is not concerned about the livelihood of people from financially backward houses. If the government had paid some attention, we would not have lost the life of our dear colleague Jince, who killed himself due to financial issues,”said Sreekuttan S, a resident of Thiruvananthapuram.
The situation of 48-year-old Viji Murugan is no different. She is expecting the incentives to be paid together as she needs the money to repay the loan immediately. She is the only earning individual at her home as her husband is a heart patient and son is a kidney patient.
“We have worked continuously for two shifts wearing PPE kits. It was really taxing and there were instances when some of the patients would be rude to us. We have worked in situations where even government officials have been intimidated,”said Viji Murugan, a resident of Kachani.
Recalling the apathy she and her family had to face during the period, Sujakumari P, a resident of Kattakada said: “During my working time, people including my neighbours and relatives isolated me and my family. They said I am walking around with Corona. One day, everyone in my family tested positive for Covid, including my aged mother. It was the panchayat that provided us food. No one else has helped us. We had so many bitter experiences like this and now this is the way the government treats us.”