“The political maturity of a country is measured by what citizens willingly do for themselves and one another.”
Frank Prochaska
Citizens of Maharashtra have known the D.Y.Patil family for many decades now, especially for their tradition of helping the needy. But when the Global Pandemic of COVID 19 broke out, it caught everyone off guard. However, Ruturaj Patil, one of the youngest politicians, grandson of Padmashree DY Patil, took this opportunity to go all out with offering every kind of help using his own time, personal resources and continuing the tradition of helping. Along with the Cabinet Minister of State, Satej Patil, the DY Patil Group has helped thousands of people during the lockdown.
To solve a problem, you must first understand it. In order to understand COVID-19 better, Ruturaj Patil took up an online certification course by the WHO (World Health Organization) and educated himself so as to be able to help in the right manner. He further shared his knowledge with the citizens about how the pandemic could be fought and the community could emerge stronger and better from this crisis.
Unavailability of food being the biggest hassle, he not only made provisions for normal ration card holders to get their ration on time, but has also been distributing wheat and rice packets to over 10,000 families who do not have ration cards. He has distributed 30,000 masks and 10,000 sanitizer bottles in the Kasba Bavda area of Kolhapur and 2000 N95 masks and food packets to the Kolhapur Police. On the other hand, a group of general practitioners had started a community clinic in Kolhapur, but it all came to a standstill due to the Lockdown. So, he provided 1,000 PPE kits and expedited the process of its delivery to the medical fraternity so they could continue working. He also distributed protective uniforms to them. Thanks to this, doctors have been able to run their private clinics and help the needy in those particular areas. Even Volunteers who have been distributing food, have been given safety gears. Apart from this, Sanitizer chambers, PPE kits and ration was distributed to the 20 year old NGO - White Army who has been helping the administration during natural calamities and crisis. MLA Patil and his team has also been providing masks and sanitizers to the media team and newspaper sellers who are out on the streets to provide services to the citizens. The D.Y.Patil hospital in Kadamwadi has been operating for 24 hours, treating patients non stop and PPE Kits have been provided to all the doctors working in the isolation zone too.
The better part of these initiatives is that, they have been funded out of personal resources and not from the Government funds- showing the right intent behind helping.
One of the groups that faced the biggest challenges during the lockdown was the labourers. Satej Patil and Ruturaj Patil made provisions for the travel of these labourers who were stranded in Kolhapur, to go back to their hometowns. With the help of the Maharashtra Government, several trains were arranged for the labourers to travel back to Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Bihar. Maintaining social distancing and a smooth procedure on the train station, 50-60 team members and karyakartas (team helpers) came forward to materialise this. Labourers were provided with bottles of water, meals that included-chapati, rice, sabji and dal, plus packets of dry snacks considering the train journey would take 2 days.
Mr. Patil and his team have been working tirelessly and incessantly for the past two months. As Winston Churchill stated, “We make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give.” Kalamwali salutes the D.Y.Patil group, Hon. Minister Satej Patil and MLA Ruturaj Patil for an immeasurable act of Philanthropy during Lockdown 2020