The COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in a sudden lockdown across India has not only affected human beings but also created problems for stray animals across the globe.
In the lush green and natural environment of the NCERT Bhopal campus (located at Shyamla hills), nearly 25 dogs (in which 4 were newborn) used to enjoy their shelter and feed themselves with the food from hostels, canteens, residents, etc. Due to the lockdown, all the hostels, canteens and campus shops were closed which is the main source of the food for the dog community.
Ground warriors Shri Sanjib Sarkar (TGT-Tripura Govt.) and Shri Sanjiv Pandey (PSSCIVE staff) who live on campus, noticed that the dogs were in trouble and unable to find food to survive and they came across the “साथी हाथ बढ़ाना” initiative to feed the campus dogs through volunteer support from the staff members of the PSSCIVE, NCERT, Bhopal in the form donations and remaining food from the residents.
Through online platforms like Gmail and WhatsApp, they have been sharing information about the initiative with the staff members have gotten a lot of positive response. In just three days, they got a good amount of donations which was collected via digital platforms like UPI etc, and now they are able to manage the daily food needs of the campus dogs in the form of biscuits, milk, bread, chapatis, etc. The best part of this initiative is that the mother of Shri Sanjiv Pandey is making fresh chapatis for these campus dogs. Also, one of the tiffin centres has been supplying chapatis at a reasonable price on demand.
They feed these campus dogs twice a day and also manage drinking water through plastic buckets and concrete pots placed under a tree.
I found this ground-level initiative very inspiring in such difficult circumstances in which the government is also trying to extend their support towards community welfare.
“कुछ करने की चाह हो अगर, मंजिल भी ढूंढेगी डगर” (When you have the will to do something, you will find a way to achieve it)