By Prof Dr Kiran Thakur
Former PUWJ President &
Vishwakarma University
Centre of Communication for Development
Published on December 17 2020, Patrakar Sangh’s Foundation Day
Pune Patrakar Sangh was founded in 1940 with only a few members. They were mostly journalists known for their literary writing in Marathi. Some of them worked for the freedom for the country, some for social reforms. For the next several years, the organization was nearly dormant. It became active when working journalists such as B R Vats in Delhi, T R Ramaswamy in Chennai and Madharao Sane in Pune were at the forefront of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists. In 1974 Gopalrao Krishna Patwardhan became President of the Pune Patrakar Sangh and was supported by me and Prakash Kardaley. That was a landmark year as the Sangh became Pune Shramik Patrakar Sangh (Pune Union of Working Journalists), a trade union of the employee journalists.
The Corona
19 had affected not only the general population but also the journalists in
Pune and elsewhere. The members of (PUWJ) experienced the ill-effects of
the pandemic. One Journalist, Pandurang Raykar, lost his life. On other days, several
reporters and sub-editors were rushed to hospitals in different parts of the
city.
Many
colleagues lost jobs because the newspaper owners reported that the newspapers
had suffered heavily in their businesses, in circulation and advertisement
revenue. The Number of pages were reduced, loss-making editions were closed,
and several newspaper establishments were closed. Salaries of employees were
slashed to around 50 per cent in the case of the newspaper establishments that
managed to survive. The white-collared employees- the journalists - were unable
to find alternative sources of income. There was gloom in every sector of the economy. The newspaper industry was no exception.
Several
members of the PUWJ and their families reported nervous breakdown. Many found
it difficult to meet expenses for routine treatments. Several medicines were
not available in the market. Some were sold in the black market at exorbitant
prices.
Oxygen was
scarce. Ambulance services attached to private hospitals were expensive. Nurses
and the paramilitary staff of the hospitals were overworked.
In this all
pervading gloom and desperation, the PUWJ tried to tackle the situation to help
its journalists and their family members.
For example,
we realised that the experts in different medical fields, such as nervous
breakdown, and trauma, were not available to our members and their families at
affordable costs. Psychiatrists were required in some cases, he says.
Our
journalist colleagues used their contacts with the Indian Medical Association
to organise help in this area. Dr Sanjay Patil former president of Indian
Medical Association, Pune pooled the experts to form an informal advisory board
of specialists. They were available to the needy PUWJ members and their
families. They ensured that the confidentiality of the patients was maintained.
Earlier in
April, the PUWJ organised a Corona pre-testing. It tested oxygen levels, pulse
and symptoms for Covid-19. Around 200 members participated. Only two people
showed symptoms.
The next tests
were swab tests. Around 200 journalists participated. None of them tested
positive. This was a major drive sponsored by PUWJ in collaboration with Pune
Municipal Corporation with the initiative by Mayor Muralidhar, Sahyadri
Hospital’s Dr Charu Apte and Puneet Balan group.
As a measure
to boost the immunity, dosages of Arsenic Album 30 were given to all members
and their families. Around 400 members and their families took this
medication.
At one
point, oxygen supply system for the patients was not easily available in
Pune at reasonable costs. When Mr Vikram Salunke of the Accurate Engineering
came to know about it, he offered a set of the system. He arranged also
to train a couple of tech-savvy journalists to use the system to during
emergencies.
The PUWJ members came across instances where medical stores and private hospitals charged exorbitantly for remdesivir injection vials. These vials were considered useful for corona treatment. The PUWJ liaisoned with Mr Anil Belkar, the Secretary of Pune District Chemists Association for supply of vials and other pharmacy products at fair price and without delay.
Mr Vishwesh
Kulkarni of Yashashwi Academy for Skills provided website development course at
extremely discounted cost. Some of the members, who have lost the job,
participated in this course. After successful completion, they have started,
their own news websites.
Another
major help the Patrakar Sangh began offering was the ambulance service. It was
the period when the corona was at a peak. The number of patients in the city and
district was rising every day. Beds and Hospitals were limited. There was panic
in the city as the newspapers and television channels reported a number of deaths
and an increasing number of patients. Ambulances and hearses were limited.
They were hired to carry the patients and bodies to a long distance. With the
result that the patients were kept waiting. There was heavy pressure on the
state government’s 108 service for the ambulances. The 108 operators declined
to provide their ambulances to ferry patients to private hospitals on arguing
that the 108 was meant for emergencies faced by the government hospitals. This
led to more panic, impatience, and bickering among these agencies and the
affected people.
This created
more panic among the patients and their relatives. Scores of families of
journalists experienced such panic. This led to innovation to organise a
service of an ambulance for journalists. That was unique, not thought of and
successfully executed by any organisation of journalists in India, and perhaps
outside the country. In Pune, PUWJ organised the service with the
support of the MVR Welfare Foundation. Its Head, Hematologist Dr Vijay
Ramanan offered the ambulance belongs to MVR welfare foundation.
Shivsangram
Sanghatana’s founder leader Vinayak Mete came forward to provide us an
ambulance until the PUWJ members required it during the COVID 19.
The youthful
PUWJ office bearers had vowed not to seek and accept charity for any of our
activities. Accordingly, they prevailed upon the Sanghatana leaders to accept
at least Rs. 101.00 as a token for the payment for ambulance.
The
journalists in Pune would remain grateful to the PUWJ team for these facilities
and services that can perhaps be quantified. There was something else that can
not be quantified. The president, office-bearers and executive members risked
their own health to run around to hospitals and doctors to organise these
facilities and services to save the lives of members and their family
members.
--
The teams
that organized the help
|
Pune Shramik Patrakar Sangh Prasad
Arun Kulkarni, President |
Pune Patrakar Pratishthan Prakash
Bhiote, President |
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