Volunteer groups to coordinate appeals for hospital beds, oxygen, medication

During the second wave of COVID-19, Katradi personnel have pitched in with multiple online collectives of NGOs and Volunteer groups in Tamil Nadu and pan-Indian collectives to help patients get beds, oxygen, medication, plasma and other medical aid.

Oxygen

We are especially working on sourcing Oxygen Concentrators for Ranipet and Thiruvannamalai districts in Tamil Nadu. We are also helping individuals source oxygen concentrators in Chennai. Funds were raised for 5 oxygen concentrators for Ranipet District to reach on by 20th May, 2021. More oxygen concentrators are being sourced to be provided to Cheyyar taluka, Thiruvannamalai. We are looking to raise funds for more concentrators to help rural Tamil Nadu.Donate Now

Ration support in rural Tamil Nadu

Ration distribution recommences in May 2021 for tribal communities, traditional performing artists, daily wage earners whose livelihoods have suffered a strong setback with the second wave of COVID 19.Donate Now

Safe space for abused women

Katradi personnel, being some of the few women volunteers on the ground, began spotting victims of abuse and sexual violence since March, 2020. They realised that the lockdown left victims in a terrible situation and opened their houses to welcome women in need of a safe place, helping them also get to counselors and doctors where necessary. Our homes continue to stay open as a safe space to women in need.

Stranded Migrants Relief Work

Seeing myriad heartbreaking sights of workers walking back to their homes that were 2000-3000 kms away Sangeeta Isvaran, co-founder, Katradi joined hands with Ravin Carr , heading Feed Chennai, to co-create a volunteer group called the Chennai Migrant Taskforce (CMT).

CMT volunteers stationed themselves in Chennai Central Station and also patrolled different highways guiding stranded migrants to shelters and onto trains. CMT volunteers distributed food, translated for the migrants from Hindi to Tamil, broke up potential conflicts when crowds of 100s would gather at Central station pushing to get on over crowded trains and helped ensure smooth transition into trains. Hearing stories of starving workers on the trains the CMT started distributing food kits with loaves of bread, jam, chapatis/theplas, water.

Building a strong relationship with the police, CMT managed to submit lists of stranded workers with data collected from phone helplines, highways, shelters, Railway stations coordinating with multiple volunteer groups and NGOs across India to submit extensive lists to the police and GCC and help Shramik trains run at full capacity through May, June, July. CMT also helped rescue groups of bonded labourers coordinating with other NGOs and teams of volunteers across India.

CMT Activities

Creating a phone help line responding to calls for help from stranded workers, to provide them food, shelter and trains.
Distributing food and water to many shelters housing migrants to help ensure no one goes hungry.
Distributing food and water for migrants waiting in the hot sun outside Central Station
Patrolling key highways to locate groups of migrants walking and counsel them to go to shelters and support them with food and water
Bridging the language barrier doing Hindi translation where needed, helping to ease potentially conflict with empathy and understanding.

In Chennai, CMT has distributed

30,400 Food kits on Shramik trains
1,02,580 meals for homeless and stranded
4,200 grocery kits
77,000 litres of water
4,000 sanitisers to Govt COVID volunteers

CMT helped

5,071 stranded workers onto trains
2,360 workers to shelters
Katradi's involvement with this work came to an end on 15th of August, 2020.