Meet unsung warriors who deliver foods at quarantine centres in J-K

With the entire world on a war footing with the spread of the novel coronavirus, there are some unsung warriors also who continue to deliver food at quarantine centres in Srinagar amid fear of getting infected with the disease.

Srinagar: As the coronavirus continues to creep across the country, there are some unsung warriors who continue to deliver food at quarantine centres in Srinagar amid fear of getting infected with the disease.

The centres too are witnessing an alarming increase of patients inflow since the lockdown 5.0 ended and restrictions were eased by the administration.

"We put our lives at stake while delivering food to the (quarantine) centres, " says Mehraj Ahmed, who is in contract with the city administration for the purpose.

Sharing his precautions, Mehraj says, "We know it is risky and we too can get infected by this virus any moment but can you sleep peacefully when someone has an empty stomach? During preparation we take all the standard precautions – PPE kits, different people cook, different to pack and different to deliver. But still, risks can't be ruled out."

"In some centres, positive cases were registered soon after we delivered food. We put our life at danger but won't let anyone die of hunger," he added.

Explaining the delivery process, Shahbaaz who owns an eatery at Srinagar's Food Street, said, "We start early in the morning. The very first thing we do is wear protective gear and then the routine work starts. We prepare food, another team does the packing and the third delivers to the quarantine centres. We deliver to all the centres in Srinagar."

"Several cases have been reported from these centres and we know this is a risky job but we do it. We do it for the people locked in there and we will continue to do it. We are scared not for ourselves but for our families. All SOPs are followed but still one wrong move and that's it," he said.

For enthusiast delivery boy Irfan Ahmad, who is doing this to feed his family said, "First thing I do after reaching home is to take bath and wash clothes. I have elderly parents, everything is on me and when the administration contacted us for delivering food at the centres; we had no other option but to say yes."

"We follow social as well as physical distancing but at some centres, people get rude and sometimes hurdle up. They put our lives at risk. We are doing this for all quarantined people irrespective of caste, gender or anything but they too must understand the situation," he added.

According to administration, Jammu and Kashmir has reported 4087 cases till Sunday (June 7) evening. Out of these cases, 2830 are positive, 1216 have recovered and 41 have died.