Kolkata: As a teenager, Churki Hansda has done all kinds of strange work, including being a caregiver in Kolkata, to support his family.
Difficulty directing tribal women from remote villages in Birbhum to take driving lessons.
And, during the second wave of pandemic, the 30-year-old Santhali has been driving around the labhpur in Birbhum to send oxygen to the doorway to those who need it.
On Wednesday, Hansda was among the eight ambulance drivers made by Covid Care Network (CCN) and Liver Foundation West Bengal (LFWB) which had tied them to a shared initiative called oxygen on the wheel.
After his graduation, Hansda began working for an NGO called Suchona in Birbhum where he did accounting work and translated short stories for children in Santhali.
He was driving in 2014 when the NGO registered it.
“During the second wave, when Monisha in, the Head of the High School of Labhpur, told me that CCN and LFWB were looking for an ambulance driver to send oxygen concentrators to Covid patients, I just took the task,” Hansda said, who received training on how to use oxygen concentrators .
Likewise, in Howrah, Sonali Kundu wore a PPE kit every day to send an oxygen concentrator to the house.
“Hansda and Kundu give examples by not only taking assignments to drive for oxygen on the wheel project, but also so involved in their work,” said Parthasarathi Mukherjee, Secretary, LFWB.
Oxygen on the wheel project will have three people in the board – the driver, helper, and volunteer of CCN – while giving oxygen.
But during the peak of a pandemic, CCN ran shortage of volunteers.
That’s when this driver must double as a volunteer and learn how to use and repair oxygen concentrators, pulse oxymeters, and other devices.
“We also maintain six men, also ambulance drivers, for their commitment to the project,” said Satyarup Siddhanta, Secretary, CCN.
The other made from Wednesday is the Mondal Carttick, Bead Das, Avijit Gayen, Bikash Das, Purusottam Sanra and Asha Mali.