Ranchi railway division’s frontline staff on duty wearing masks made of bedroll linen

RANCHI: RPF jawans of Ranchi division of South Eastern Railways, who come in direct contact of migrants and stranded persons returning in special trains from across the country, have alleged of not being given proper protective equipment while on duty.
Panic gripped the ranks of RPF personnel and frontline railway staff on Wednesday after a 20-year-old woman from Ranchi’s Argora, who returned from Vellore in Tamil Nadu to Hatia in a special train last week, tested positive of novel coronavirus.
“For a very long time, we have been demanding three-layered surgical masks, hand gloves, face shields and head cover. But we have not received any. Instead, the division provided us with masks made from linen supplied in bedrolls of AC coaches. The masks provided to us are not clinically tested,” a RPF jawan told the TOI on anonymity.
Besides managing social distancing and escorting the trains, RPF jawans, officers and other frontline staff from the division’s commercial and operations department are entrusted with receiving the arriving passengers, registering their names, serving them water and food, checking their identity cards and helping unwell or Divyang passengers. “It has become a matter of life and death for us. We are living in fear,” an officer from the operations department said.
As per the data provided by Ranchi division, close to 50 staff have been put on institutional and home quarantine. Among them are 26 RPF jawans. Of them, two have been admitted recently to Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) with respiratory ailments, division’s sources said.
“With the operations of special trains beginning from tomorrow, the threat to our lives have increased manifold,” a senior officer of the division said. Notably, the South Eastern Railway zone issued a statement claiming it has manufactured 2,640 PPE kits for their frontline staff so far.
Ranchi’s divisional railway manager Neeraj Ambashth declined to speak when contacted. Another official said on anonymity: “We are waiting for guidelines from the higher ups. For the time being, we have supplied our frontline staff with masks made in-house.”
ADRM (Infra) Ajit Singh Yadav, the division’s nodal officer for Covid 19, said: “Procurement is under process. All of our frontline staff will be properly equipped soon.”