Among the worst-affected sectors, daily wage workers are undoubtedly the biggest sufferers during the pandemic.

Bengaluru :

Among the worst-affected sectors, daily wage workers are undoubtedly the biggest sufferers during the pandemic. To handle this issue, city-based non-profit organisation Give Foundation is currently running a campaign where the members have collected more than Rs 30 lakh within a span of three days, which will be used towards creating hygiene kits for underprivileged people and extend support to blue-collar workers who have lost jobs due to the lockdown.

“We started this campaign on Sunday and reached out to different donors from all over the country. The amount will be used to pay two months’ salary to people who have blue-collar jobs,” says Somdutta Chatterjee, head of corporate partnerships in GiveIndia Foundation. She added that apart from the existing list of affected people that they have, the foundation is also reaching out to various other NGOs to gather more lists. They will reach out to people directly after doing a background verification of the affected persons. “A part of the collected fund will also be used to provide a hygiene kit to the underprivileged. The kit will consist of protective mask, hand sanitiser, antiseptic soap, antiseptic lotion, phenol and thermometers,” adds Chatterjee.

Apart from organisations, others are also trying to do their bit for the good of the society. Champaca, a book store and café in the city, has appealed to people to buy an annual voucher from the store to support those who work at the bookstore.

Recently, director Pavan Kumar started a fund raiser campaign to support daily wage workers of the Kannada film industry, like makeup artistes, lightman, drivers, carpenters and more. Till now, he has collected more than Rs 3.5 lakh and will be handing it over to different workers’ unions.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Monika Monalisa / Express News Service / March 25th, 2020