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GUWAHATI: It was a usual day on May 27 for the Pratirodhi Bondhu volunteers engaged by the Tinsukia district administration for fighting COVID-19 and were giving their regular volunteer services at quarantine centres, transit check-in points, railway station, banks, post offices and in busy market areas. The sudden news of blowout of natural gas mixed with condensate from Well No. 5 of Oil India Ltd and large-scale fleeing of villagers from Baghjan and nearby areas came to the knowledge of these young volunteers. They quickly assembled at the DC Office, Tinsukia for further instructions from District Disaster Management Authority, stated a press release.
Since the beginning of their services from March 25 as Pratirodhi Bondhu, these young volunteers have developed a sense of service before self and as a frontline force they are ever ready to help the community in distress. These volunteers are a part of the community engagement programme initiated by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) in collaboration with the district administration for non-medical response activities for fighting COVID-19 in Assam.
As soon as the volunteers received the direction from district administration, they reached the incident spot and helped in setting up of relief camps and provided psychological support to the affected villagers. As these volunteers are from community itself, their acceptance was more in comparison to other agencies and the villagers responded to them in a very positive manner. The volunteers made many rounds of visits to the affected areas and helped the district administration in loss assessment survey and in managing relief camps. Despite all efforts of capping the well by Oil India Limited and foreign experts, on June 9, a massive fire caught at Baghjan oil field well which led to widespread panic and evacuation of around 2,965 families from the neighbouring areas and several irate villagers went violent and destroyed few vehicles of Oil India Limited and a serious law-and-order situation was created.
In this chaotic situation, the Pratirodhi Bondhu volunteers again came as a helping hand to the district administration and they quickly responded in evacuating people from the nearby areas, giving support to NDRF and SDRF in search and rescue operations and in arrangement of relief camps for the displaced people. In appreciation of the selfless services of these young Samaritans, the Oil India Ltd and Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Doomdooma have decided to felicitate them and give recognition to the volunteer services along with the district administration, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) stated in the press release.
Also watch: Evening Bulletin | 24th June, 2020