A stitch in time by Gujaratis to save lives

TNN | Apr 9, 2020, 10:06 IST

Jagruti Thakkar with police wearing her masks in Surat

AHMEDABAD/RAJKOT/VADODARA: Life for Mita Modi, a Gota resident and mother of a daughter with cerebral palsy, is challenging. From looking after her special girl to managing the house amidst lockdown, she sometimes is woefully short of time but that does not deter her from squeezing a couple of hours to stitch masks. She has sewn and distributed 300 masks since the lockdown and she is not stopping anytime soon.
Adani Foundation, the CSR arm of the Adani group, has also joined the mission to mask countrymen as it has produced and distributed more than 1,72,000 masks for protection against the Covid-19 pandemic. The masks are made by women co-operatives aided by Adani Saksham and distributed across Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand.
“Masks is the need of the hour to safeguard people against coronavirus. Members of our Adani Saksham Skill Development Centres in Mundra and Thiruvananthapuram have been constantly engaged in making masks to ensure a steady supply,” according to Preeti Adani, chairperson for Adani Foundation.
Be it commoners or citizens with clout, all have joined hands in ensuring masks are available to common man. The need has only got underscored after the state government advised all citizens to wear handmade masks for primary protection against Covid-19. In fact, TOI has launched #MaskIndia campaign that encourages all Indians to wear simple, homemade masks to stall the spread of coronavirus.
Bhushan Punani, exectuive secretary of Blind People's Associaiton (BPA), said that the institution has received 6,000 meters of cloth from donors and have made some 30,000-odd masks. "It takes us only half an hour to train women in making masks and we have trained some 100 women," said Punani.