The need for immediate relief is crucial and must be undertaken at a greater pace and on a larger scale. PHIA Foundation is responding to support the affected communities Phia Foundation has joined hands with the Department of Labour, Employment & Training, Govt. of Jharkhand to establish and manage the COVID-19 Response Team (Control Room at State Secretariat, Nepal House).
When the nationwide lockdown was announced, Gopal Handsa and 60 other seasonal migrant labourers from Dumka district of Jharkhand were left stranded in Goa. As fishing related activities stopped so did their income and livelihood. When a friend from Gopal’s village informed him about the COVID-19 migrant response helpline number, he desperately called hoping for some help – once on 13th April and again on 18th April. They were barely making ends meet and survived on their meagre collective ration. There was a sense of hopelessness in the air. But soon enough the COVID-19 response team at Ranchi office forwarded their case on an emergency basis to the Humanitarian Relief Society, a voluntary organization based in Goa. Within hours the Humanitarian Relief Society reached out to them with food supplies, drinking water, masks, sanitizers and soaps. The organization also began extending help to many more migrant laborers stranded in Gumla, Goa, even taking care of any medical aid required by the group.