Dolly John

Amid the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mumbai-based Shahnawaz Shaikh’s friend lost a close relative due to a lack of oxygen. The unfortunate incident pushed Shahnawaz to sell his own SUV to start an oxygen supply scheme. This scheme has helped more than 6,000 people to date, earning him the moniker of the ‘Oxygen Man of India’. This year, Shahnawaz has set up a control room under his organisation, the Unity and Dignity Foundation (UDF). His team at UDF receives more than 600 calls every day and has been efficiently helping coordinate and provide oxygen cylinders to people across Mumbai.

A teacher by profession, Haresh has been working relentlessly to help people since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. He has been predominantly working in Maharashtra’s rural areas by collaborating with other partners and setting up six COVID-19 Treatment and Recovery Centres in highly impacted areas. Haresh has also been running a continuous COVID-19 assistance helpline. Along with a few volunteers, he has managed to arrange 48 plasma donors and around 30 hospital beds in different parts of the country. He has also managed to arrange 11 oxygen cylinders and helped provide essential medicines to patients in critical need.

Mukti Kanta Pradhan, a cook by profession, has been dedicating his culinary prowess to help those in need. He spends more than half his day in the kitchen cooking meals for the poor. Since the lockdown began in May 2021, Mukti Kanta has provided meals for a small fee to those who can afford to pay. He then uses this money to provide food to the less privileged. He has been distributing food to street vendors, security guards, and homeless people around the city. He makes over 40 food packets a day and has supplied over 1,000 packets for free.

When the pandemic struck in March 2020, Akshay, an autorickshaw driver from Pune, decided to use the Rs 2 lakh he had saved for his wedding to feed the poor. To date, he has arranged food for over 1,550 families and continues to distribute food packets to migrant workers in Pune everyday. Keeping aside his own needs, he has been selflessly giving to vulnerable groups. As people faced difficulty finding transport during the lockdown, Akshay ferried people in need to and from hospitals. He makes it a point to give medical workers free rides in his auto.

In Kiriburu, a remote village in Jhakrhand, access to basic medical facilities is still a major challenge. So good samaritan Santosh Kumar Panda has stepped to help those who cannot access adequate facilities at this time. He has been going out of his way to deliver essentials right to the doorstep of COVID-19 patients. Riding through dense forests, he has been making deliveries of not just food, medicines and other essentials, but also oxygen cylinders in remote tribal areas — all free of cost. With a team of 10 volunteers, Santosh has helped more than 75 people survive the pandemic.