Syed Ali Mujtuba Chennai
0n March 22, at 5 PM when the nation clapped and beat the vessels to cheer up those fighting the Corona war did anyone thought about Home Guards who are on the forefront to take cudgels with the unseen enemy?
In a candid interview, Mr. Manjit Singh Nayyar, Assistant Commandant General for the Home Guards, listed out the impeccable work that Home Guards are doing to ameliorate the woes of the people but remain unsung heroes of the Corona war.
“Chennai city Home Guards are doing wonderful service and on an average 1600 to 1700 are reporting to duty every day,” Mr Nayyar said, adding they are helping police in managing ration shops, the Koyambedu wholesale vegetable market, and many other such special duties since the lockdown came into force on March 25.”
“The Home Guards have so far procured over 40,000 masks and handed it over to the Chennai police for making use of them patrolling on the city roads,” Mr Nayyar said.
“Some 50 Home Guard volunteers are managing the Koyambedu vegetable market, the hub of vegetables and fruits for Chennai, daily since from 4 am.”
“The Home Guard is helping in the systematic distribution of groceries at the ration shops, managing crowd and social distancing across Chennai.”
“The Home Guards are also distributing Kabasura Kudineer, the herbal drink useful to improve immune system to 500 people daily in the city. The energy drink is procured from the Indian Medical Practitioners Co-operative Pharmacy and Stores (IMPCOPS).”
“They are distributing 200 food packets prepared by various societies among the city’s Kannagi Nagar slum clearance board families and also providing the same to 150 to 200 poor people who visits there.”
“On a daily basis, the Home Guards are also distributing water, sanitizer and masks to the Municipal corporation workers at different places in the city.”
Mr Nayyar, who is also the General Secretary and Correspondent of Guru Nanak Educational Society that run Guru Nanak College, where a shelter camp is set up for 377 migrant workers, said, “there are 50 Home Guards assisting the College in running the relief camp.”
“They are taking care of the distribution of food to the inmates, maintaining social distancing, ensuring no unauthorized person enters the campus, picking up raw material for the open kitchen (langer) from different locations of the city and also distributing food packets to 75 migrant workers residing close to college.”
In these efforts, College estate manager Navjit Singh, Gyani Satpal Singh and his son deserves special praise for their tireless efforts to smoothly run the relief camp.
Mr Nayyar said, he will be failing in his duty if he does not mention the names like Mr Sugumar, Home Guard Area Commander South, Mr. Sanjay Bhansali, Area Commander North, Mr. Umapathy Chanrasekar, Area Commander West, who all have been tirelessly working with the Home Guards in the ongoing war against Covid-19.
Home Guards have always been a pillar of support for the police and the fire service in the city. Be it the tsunami of 2004 or the Mugalivakkam building collapse on June 28 2014, when an eleven-story under-construction building fell down in Chennai suburb due to lighting strike, killing 61 people, or the tragic Chennai floods of 2015, Home Guard’s service record is impeachable.
Home Guards comprise a voluntary group of civilians, assisting police personnel with tasks like crowd control, traffic management, VIP ‘bandobast’ and disaster relief etc.
When called on duty, a Home Guard has the same powers, privileges and protection as an officer of the police appointed under the Madras City Police Act, 1888.
The Home Guards falls under the Directorate of Civil Defence of the Tamil Nadu Police. There are 15,622 Home Guards in the State. Among them 2,805 are women. In Chennai, there are 3,190 Home Guard, of whom 2,805 are men and 385 are women. The Home Guard was formed in 1963, following the Sino-Indian War. (www.siyasat.net is Ahmedabad based website)
(This Journalist is based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com
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