Thiruvananthapuram: As

made the most of the

to slow down

and

, the

delivered 28 lakh

packets in 14 days and housed 3.2 lakh

in over 18,000 camps supplying them with food and

since March 27.

An average of 1.5-2.5 lakh food packets were readied and distributed from 1,259 community kitchens functioning across 1,034 local bodies in the state. Kerala has had over 1.5 lakh persons under self-isolation for the past one week and the health department owes it to field-level surveillance teams, led by local bodies, in ensuring compliance with quarantine norms. LSGD constituted 19,352 ward-level committees which in turn deployed nearly 3 lakh volunteers on the field who along with Asha workers and health staff checked on persons under quarantine and kept a tab on signs of influenza-like illnesses in their respective areas.

When the nationwide lockdown was announced, challenges were aplenty for the new LSGD leadership. Armed with disaster management plans and early preparations for Janakeeya hotels which was announced in the state budget, the local bodies were directed to run a mission which has to go on non-stop and the tasks included preparation of data on vulnerable communities, field-level surveillance, cooking and distribution of food to the needy, co-ordinating with health and labour departments for identification of guest labourers and arranging shelters for them. Unlike the activities of local bodies during the floods, the team was keen on instilling a sense of acknowledgement and recognition from the top which reflected in the activities on the ground. “During the floods, it was mostly ruling committees which took upon tasks because there was no co-ordinated mission at the administrative level. Now the Covid mission works as a whole and every single activity is being documented and recognized,’’ an LSGD official said.

“We started off with an advantage because for the first time we had over 800 plus disaster management plans ready in local bodies. Basic works like mapping of vulnerable communities, identification of infrastructure related to health have already been done. The challenge was to co-ordinate everything on a virtual platform due to lockdown. We formed WhatsApp groups at the grassroots level especially among Kudumbashree members. All messages were promptly passed on and even as issues cropped up we were able to resolve them,’’ said Sarada Muraleedharan, principal secretary, LSGD.

The department also keeps track of grievances from shelters housing guest labourers. “We are also in the process of preparing their database for different states. We are getting queries from other states regarding their wellbeing and we have been able to answer them satisfactorily,’’ said Sarada.

A major chunk of the food packets was distributed at homes using a group of volunteers put together solely for this purpose. When there were cases of ineligible persons misusing community kitchens, LSGD gave fresh instructions to prioritize food distribution to the needy ones. A total of 44,033 lunch packets were given at Rs 20 per meal in four days till April 8 and free food was given to 1.03 lakh needy persons through Janakeeya hotels. As speculation rises over extension of lockdown, questions are raised on whether LSGD can sustain the momentum. “We are good to go. Adequate arrangements have been made for funding and we have never felt scarcity of human resource. Besides we make use of technology for data analysis which give us a clear picture of what lies ahead,’’ said Sarada.

ENDS