WR silent heroes work tirelessly to combat Coronavirus pandemic

W.Rly employees come together with their families to prepare
1.17 lakh in-house masks

Since the Coronavirus Lockdown shortage of masks and hand sanitizers was observed and to cater the large requirement, Western Railway’s employees across all Divisions took charge in making homemade masks. The employees of Lower Parel Workshop have produced more than 20,000 masks and the staff of Mechanical Dept & Kankaria Coaching Depot, Ahmedabad Division have shown their tremendous efforts in providing more than 1500 homemade masks.

In a tremendous feat to fight the deadly Coronavirus
Pandemic, till 19th April, 2020, Western Railway has in-house produced 1,16,578
masks and 9,929 litres of sanitizer.

According to a press release issued by WR CPRO Ravinder
Bhakar, in the Lower Parel Workshop of WR, the team has tirelessly completed
conversion of 40 passenger Coaches into Isolation Wards for at least 320
Patients as per the guidelines issued by Railway Board within record time
despite of adverse situation. These coaches are well-equipped with 60 Oxygen
Cylinder Trollies, Mosquitoes net, Partition Curtains, Dustbins and others.

Through their efforts, the railway employees of Lower Parel
Workshop have also manufactured Patient Beds for hospitals, 25 Coverall with
Shoe cover, 20250 face masks, 20 sets of clothing for medical staff, 100  caps and 410 liters of hand rub as per WHO
guidelines, to fulfill the requirement of hospitals within record time during
the lockdown period. Families of railway employees have also contributed by
making masks, clothing and caps for hospital staff at their residence.

Several employees along with their families came together to sew homemade masks to provide for the masses. It is worth mentioning that the employees of Western Railway’s Ahmedabad Division have collectively prepared more than 1500 homemade masks and distributed among railway employees working day and night and for people in need.

The dedicated silent heroes are Mamraj Yadav – 140 Ton Crane Driver made 97 masks along with his family member, Abdulkarim A. – Fitter (C&W)/Kankariya along with his family members made 50 masks, Gauriben D. – Carpenter (C&W)/Kankariya made 50 masks, Veena – Confidential Assistant to Sr. CDO (Kankariya) made 90 homemade masks, Mukeshnath J. – Fitter (C&W)/Kankariya made 65 masks, Mukeshkumar Bairwa – Senior Section Engineer (C&W)/Palanpur made 100 masks along with his family members, Krishnakumar Soni – Chief Locomotive Inspector/Mahesana made 200 masks along with his family members, Priti Dave – Chief Office Superintendent/Mech/Sr. DME (Co) made 25 masks and Pawan Kumar – Assistant Divisional Mechanical Engineer/Kankariya along with Shri Ajay Mistry (SSE), Vijay Singh (SSE) and other staff prepared 625 masks at the Coaching Depot, Kankariya of Ahmedabad Division.

Diesel Loco Shed, Ratlam 
has also shown tremendous efforts in fighting the Novel Coronavirus and
have prepared 2500 liters of sanitizer in the Diesel Shed Lab as per the WHO
guidelines under the instructions of ADRM-Ratlam up to 20th April, 2020. The
dedicated officers and staff in the task are S.P. Gupta – Sr. DME(D), Ajya
Kumar – ACMT(D), Ram Lal – CMS(Lab) and Mukesh Kumar – TCN-3(Lab) of Ratlam
Division.

At the Indore Depot Laundry of the Coaching Depot, Indore,
the staff along with some labourers on hire have prepared reusable mask amid
the Coronavirus Pandemic lockdown. They have prepared more than 10,000 masks.
The true silent heroes who took the initiative are Narbada Bai and Rekha
Gurjar. Two of the self prepared masks with Railway Logo printed by Raghvendra
Chaubey, SSE (Linen) and Sr CDO, IND are being sent to them to appreciate their
hardwork.

Bhakar also stated that the it is the collective effort of
everyone from various departments that identified the problem of scarcity of
masks and found their ingenious ways to cope up with the situation. As per the
directions from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, those not having a mask can
even use a dupatta or a gamcha to cover their nose and mouth. It is highly
applaudable that these generous railway employees took out time in these
desperate & anxious days to prepare these masks which will benefit the
larger society in the fight towards Coronavirus Pandemic. Some of the masks
made by the employees are reusable in nature as they are made of cloth and can
be used multiple times after washing & sanitizing them.