Hyderabad’s ‘Relief Riders’ Are Cycling To Deliver Food, Oxygen & Medicines To The Elderly

by Tania Tarafdar
Hyderabad’s ‘Relief Riders’ Are Cycling To Deliver Food, Oxygen & Medicines To The Elderly

As India struggles to grapple for breath in the deadly second wave of coronavirus, many good Samaritans are stepping up to help those in need. Hyderabad-based Santhana Selvan, a programme manager in an IT firm is one such unsung hero who has been cycling across the city to deliver food, oxygen, and medicines to the elderly. He shared his phone number online expressing his willingness to run errands for the elderly people who are homebound amid the raging pandemic. Since then requests have been pouring in.

The Relief Riders Offer Food, Medicines & Other Essentials To The Elderly

Selvan has been adjudged the ‘Bicycle Mayor of Hyderabad’ by Amsterdam-based ‘BYCS’, started the initiative on April 30 with the support of like-minded friends. The number of volunteers crossed 100, and Selvan is now confident that he will be able to offer help to more senior citizens. While ‘Relief Riders’ offers to deliver medicines for elderly people, they also get requests for arranging oxygen cylinders, blood plasma units, emergency drugs, and even ICU beds.

Also read: 5 NGOs In Mumbai That Provide Free Food To COVID Patients & Those In Need

Over 100 Volunteers Have Joined The Cause

They hope to deliver food and other essentials with more volunteers joining in. They are also delivering essential items to COVID-positive patients in isolation. The Relief Riders in Hyderabad has received support from groups like Hyderabad Cyclists and Happy Hyderabad. When Selvan receives a call for assistance, he verifies the details and leaves a message in the Relief Riders WhatsApp group. Based on the locality mentioned in the message, volunteers take the request up if it falls within his five-kilometer radius.

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Selvan would continue to deliver medicines till the panic around the pandemic subsided. At present, he is taking request calls on 9566170334, between 6 am and 9 am and from 6 pm to 9 pm.