Since the Meghalaya government enforced lockdown inthe state on March 17, Loknath Khannal, a milkman of Mawsmaivillage in Ri-Bhoi district, has served over 3,200 cups of teafree of cost to the police personnel posted at the 12th milecheck gate on the inter-state border with Assam.
Khannal lives at a distance of over 1.5 kilometresfrom the checkpoint and he pedals to the check post twice aday.
"I have been serving tea to about 40 persons posted atthe checkpoint twice daily - at 6 in the morning and again inthe afternoon. In all I serve around 80 cups of tea in a day,"Loknath told .
The milkman, whose 28-year-old son Govind is a sepoywith the Assam Riffles and currently serving in Manipur, saidhe does it voluntarily and has never taken a rupee from thosehe served the beverage.
"I find joy and I hope that my son will also be takencare of, no matter from where he is serving the country," hesaid.
Like Khannal of Ri-Bhoi, there are many volunteers instate capital Shillong, who are serving food and hot beveragesto the personnel battling Covid-19.
There are also others who are reaching out to theneedy people of the state that so far reported 12 Covid-19cases and one of them died.
Senior High Court lawyer Khalid Khan and his wifeOoma, an alternative therapist, have donated over Rs 1,000 toover 100 households each in East Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoidistricts.
Ooma also joined a team of fellow volunteers includingteashop owner Kailash Verma, from a WhatsApp group'AdventuRers', in serving lunch to poor people in and aroundthe state capital and protective gear to health workers.
"Today we are providing 250 face shields to theNEIGRIHMS. My staff and AdventuRers made them here. We aremaking 200 more," Verma said.
The NEIGRIHMS is North Eastern Indira Gandhi RegionalInstitute of Health and Medical Sciences, a premier hospitalunder the Union ministry of health and family welfare.
The Ramakrishna Mission has been distributing rice,daal and oil besides other food items to thousands ofresidents in the Khasi Jaintia Hills region.
"We are reaching out to the poorest of the poor inthese villages. Hundreds of people have benefited from theprogramme," a senior RKM official said.
Padmashree awardee newspaper editor Patricia Mukhimand local correspondents of , UNI and The Telegraph alsojoined hands in providing rice, daal and some cash to nearly50 families in the Khasi Hills region.
Like them, thousands of volunteers played their partand contributed to the battle against COVID-19, HealthMinister A L Hek said.
He said people from all cross-sections of the societyand all age groups have donated Rs 5.5 crore so far to theChief Ministers Relief Fund for the cause.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has congratulatedindividually to each of those who made their contributionsknown to him and his office, a CMO official said. JOPNN NN