Nagpur: Being the most easily accessible public representative, corporators are getting swamped with calls for hospital beds, oxygen and even life saving drugs that are in short supply. But these ‘first line of defence’ in democracy, don’t always have the clout of a MLA or MP to make things happen for their constituents.
Dilip Dive, corporator of prabhag number 37, said, “From 6am, my phone starts ringing and does not stop till 2 in the night. It’s impossible to help everyone because there is indeed a short supply of everything. In the meantime, we are focusing on providing some services like food, raw foodgrains etc. Today I also started a vaccination centre and over a hundred people took the jab.”
Sneha Vivek Nikose, corporator of prabhag number nine, said, “We have become helpless because this time the situation is really grim. There are constant calls from people seeking some sort of relief. My own relative passed away as there were no beds available. My entire family was positive, yet we continued to do as much as possible over the phone for people.”
Pragati Patil, corporator of prabhag number 14, said “This is a really tough time for all of us as most callers end up being disappointed because it’s impossible to find beds anywhere in Nagpur. Apart from that, there are senior citizens living in isolation who need to be taken care of. I had given a proposal to NMC for allotting special funds to corporators to enable us to help our constituents.”
Bunty Shelke, corporator of prabhag number 18, said it was heartening to hear the callers plea for help. “My team attends over 5,000 calls per day, of which 200 are answered directly by me, asking for beds. Minimum five members of my team are present at Mayo Hospital 24x7 to help people out. We also have a WhatsApp group of private hospital doctors and volunteers to better coordinate for available resources, ” he said.
Chetna Tank, corporator of prabhag no 24, said the scene is heart wrenching. “I am constantly on the phone with hospitals taking updates on bed position and medicine availability. But frankly, many times we feel helpless because there is so much shortage of everything that people are disappointed,” said Tank.
A city corporator, who did not wish to be named, said this may have a negative impact on the next civic polls. “We are able to help just 1%-2% of our constituents currently. Many may feel we did not perform to their expectations. So yes, it does weigh on the mind that the perception of corporators might change even though every single one of them is working very hard,” said the corporator.