Cong to undertake campaign to help Covid pandemic-affected people, gather data on deceased

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday announced that it will undertake a nationwide outreach campaign to help those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and to gather data on coronavirus infected patients and the deceased.

In a statement, Congress general secretary, organization, K C Venugopal said party president Sonia Gandhi and state unit presidents will also be writing condolence letters to the next of kin of those who passed away due to Covid.

”This outreach programme aims to cover approximately three crore households in 30 days, thereby indirectly touching approximately 12 crore people at an average of four members per family,” he said.

Venugopal said the total expected feet on ground would be 1,51,340 at the peak of the campaign.

Pursuant to extensive humanitarian and service driven efforts of crores of Congress men and women, driven by the national Covid task force, Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) and Covid relief committees, he said, the Congress has decided to launch a nationwide outreach campaign. ”Through this effort, the party seeks to reach out to frontline health workers as also to those severely affected by the pandemic with a helping hand,” Venugopal said.

A subsidiary aim is also to gather primary data of Covid-affected families, patients and the deceased, he said.

As part of the campaign, PCCs in states will be setting up a control room at their respective offices, according to Venugopal.

”PCCs and district congress committees (DCCs) and city congress committees (CCCs) will be appointing a minimum of one point person as a coordinator per block or corporation or ward to monitor activities in his/her block for the duration of the campaign,” the senior Congress leader said.

The block or town area presidents will be further identifying 10 workers who were active in helping people during the pandemic in every block and every town. They will designate them as ‘Covid warriors’ to collect data from the ground and relay the information collected through BCCs, DCCs and PCCs to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) control room or the party’s data department, he said.

The campaign will cover 7,199 blocks and 7,935 towns in 736 districts of the country, Venugopal said.

He said an information campaign on Covid through leaflets and SMS services will also be run to create awareness among people as also for COVID-affected families for a period of 30 days.

In coordination with the AICC social media team, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, and all former legislators will be holding virtual meetings to educate, motivate and explain the task to these identified ‘Covid warriors’.

Each designated ‘Covid warrior’ is expected to visit a minimum of 10 to 15 households per day during the period of 30 days, expectedly covering a total of not less than 200 households in 30 days, Venugopal said.

They will be ”carrying a questionnaire with questions like — ‘Was anyone from your family infected by COVID-19; Has any family member died due to COVID-19, their name and age; Was he/she the breadwinner of the family; Has anyone in your family lost his/her job due to COVID-19 lockdown; Any support that they may be needing (ration, job, education, financial support) etc.”, he said.

Venugopal said the teams visiting the families in consultation with PCCs will facilitate delivery of government-approved medicine kits, masks and sanitisers.

The teams will also help in the delivery of ration and food for extremely vulnerable families and also help arrange vaccination registration and coordinate with ambulance service as provided by the Congress in affected areas, he said.