Amravati (AP): The coronavirus outbreak in India has inspired many extra-ordinary deeds. There are a large number of people who are going out of the way to help those in distress. Similar is the deed of a woman IPS officer in this district of Andhra Pradesh. The woman IPS officer came to the help of a group of migrant workers who had been starving for days.
Missed call
A distress call from a desperate migrant labourer stirred the culinary skills of the IPS officer. The worker was asking for food for her and 17 others. She rustled up lemon rice for them in a jiffy in the dead of night.
Tired after a hard day’s work, B Raja Kumari, Vizianagaram SP, was about to retire for the night. Then she noticed a missed call on her mobile.
“I saw a missed call in my mobile phone. So I called back and a lady in a feeble voice requested me to help them get some food and water,” said Raja Kumari. “ Then I asked my colleagues if some food can be arranged, but they said it was not possible at that hour,” she added.
Lemon rice easiest to cook
Some of them then offered to get the migrants bread, but Raja Kumari felt it would not satiate their hunger. “So I cooked lemon rice for them. That was the best I could do because that is the dish any woman can prepare at short notice,” Raja Kumari said candidly.
Plight of migrant workers
Mamata, a native of Vizinagaram, her husband and the others, had walked and hitched a ride for about 700 km from Nellore. They were employed as construction labourers, but with no work had decided to walk back home. Weak and exhausted after not having eaten since Monday, she made the call for help for the group.
Mamata informed the SP that they were stopped at a check post about 25 km from the town and were starving. By the time the SP prepared the food and took it there at 1.30am, the group had been quarantined. Undeterred, Raja Kumari took the food to the quarantine camp set up by the government. She handed the food to Mamata and her group and fed them.
“At first I wondered how this woman (Mamata) got hold of my mobile number. When I asked her, she said one of her relatives found out and gave it to her,” the SP said.
Perilous trail
The group had somehow reached Vizianagaram district by different means of transport and also on foot. Raja Kumari said the district administration, with the help of sponsors, has been offering food and water for the migrants.