Western Railway’s employees across all Divisions took the charge of making homemade masks to cater to the large requirement. 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 20th April, 2020, Western Railway has in-house produced 1,20,325 masks and 10,359 litres of sanitizer.
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, etc. Through their many other 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 Shri 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, Smt. Priti Dave – Chief Office Superintendent/Mech/Sr.
DME (Co) made 25 masks and Shri Pawan Kumar – Assistant Divisional Mechanical Engineer/Kankariya along with 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 making of this 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 Smt. 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. Western Railway salutes the efforts of its employees & their families to help combat the deadly Coronavirus through their bright ideas & work.