A group of youth from Jharia, engaged in social work, on Wednesday carried out a unique mak-distribution drive at different squares of Dhanbad posing as Santa Claus to create awareness regarding Covid-19 guidelines.
The drive began at around 10 am from Chhai Gadda locality, a slum situated in the backside of the Dhanbad Railway Station. The volunteers of the organisation, Samadhan, led by its founder Chandan Singh, celebrated Christmas by cutting cakes and singing carols. More than 500 masks were also distributed among the residents during the time.
Talking to The Telegraph Online after the programme, Singh said, “We used three 20-pound cakes, which were provided to us by Dhanbad Senior Superintendent of Police, Aseem Vikrant Minz. The children were quite happy at our initiative.”
Talking about the police officer, Singh added, “During his earlier stint as Dhanbad Superintendent of Railway Police, Minz participated in one of our free education drives in different places. In Chhai Gadda, he occasionally used to take classes and still leaves no opportunity to look after the children here.”
Chhoti Kumari, the 12-year-old daughter of a rickshaw puller expressed her happiness over the Christmas celebrations. “It was a very special day for us. We were provided with masks for ourselves and our families and Chandan sir explained in detail about the advantages of using them to check the spread of Covid-19.”
Volunteers of 'Samadhan', dressed up as Santa Claus, celebrate Christmas by cutting cakes with children from the Chhai Gadda slum near Dhanbad Railway station, on Wednesday. Picture by Gautam Dey
Rahul Kumar, a volunteer of Samadhan, shared how the organisation celebrates Christmas.
“Last year, a Hungarian IT professional, who was visiting India with his colleague during this time, came to one of our schools -- Shahid Pandey Sanskarshala -- at Chhai Gadda. They both distributed cakes, chocolates and soft drinks among the children.”
After the programme at Chhai Gadda, the team visited the Bank More locality, posing as Santa Claus. There, they distributed another 500 masks to pedestrians and commuters, urging them to follow Covid-related protocols. The same drive was carried out in the City Centre and Randhir Verma Chowk areas of Dhanbad.