A group of 25 cyclists called ‘Relief Riders’, all of them full-time employees of various multi-national companies, have decided to embark on a journey across the city to help elderly citizens who cannot move out to purchase medicines given the second wave of the COVID-19pandemic.
Leading the group is 41-year-old Santhana Selvan, Bicycle Mayor of Hyderabad, who hopes their number would increase to about 150 in the next few weeks. He says the initiative was launched on Friday in Hyderabad and that it happens to be the second city after Bengaluru in India where the Relief Riders will be discharging this social responsibility.
“The concept is pretty simple. The senior citizens can call us on 95661-70334 and send the medical prescription to us either by WhatsApp or inform us over phone. We will buy the medicines and deliver it to them along with the bill. They can reimburse it to us either by cash or online payment, depending on that particular cyclist’s convenience,” Selvan explains.
Free service
“The service is voluntary and absolutely free,” he adds.
The idea behind the initiative is to prevent the elderly from stepping out for medicines, for which the group targets to have at least one cyclist in each locality. “We are all volunteers and not any profit-making group. We thought this is the minimum we can do during these testing times. A lot of people are coming forward to take care of people’s food, we thought of medicines,” he says.
Hope for more volunteers
The group will be on this job only from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. “We are optimistic about more people joining us as volunteers. After all, it is for a social cause. I am sure there are many looking for a platform to give back something to society,” he adds.