Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today informed that the Saamuhya Sannadha Sena or the Community Volunteer Corps are doing a fabulous job in fighting the pandemic outbreak. The Chief Minister had earlier announced the formation of a ‘Samoohya Sannadha Sena’ which would help the State in assisting the administration during this pandemic and also, in times of any disaster or natural calamity.
At the local level, the Community Volunteers are now assisting the Police in patrolling and related activities. They are also working with health workers to provide essential services to the public, such as delivering essential medicines and monitoring those quarantined at homes. The volunteers are also involved with the Vyomithram Project to help the elderly people.
With one volunteer per 100 people, the target was to form a 3.4 lakhs strong Community Volunteer force which the LSG bodies would be able to deploy on short notice. So far, 3.37 lakh people have already registered as Community Volunteers. They have a presence in almost all local bodies and they are working with the Ward Level Committees for Covid preventive activities. The Community Volunteer Corps will work with the Fire and Rescue Forces and Police for disaster response. They will be given practical training in this area.
“Because of the restrictions due to the lockdown, online training will be first used to train the volunteers. In the first phase, 20,000 volunteers will be trained before June 15, 80,000 in July and one lakh in August. The volunteer services will also be used to deal with rainy season issues. They will also join for the pre-monsoon cleaning campaign being planned for the next two weekends. The contribution of our youths was greatly appreciated during the floods of 2018 and 2019. It is from this experience that Kerala embarked on the concept of community volunteerism. Community Volunteer Corps will be a role model in community service”, the CM added. Youths in the age group of 22-40 can enrol in this Volunteer Force through a web portal.
Minister of Health & Social Justice, Smt K K Shailaja Teacher; Revenue Minister, Shri E Chandrasekharan, and Chief Secretary, Shri Tom Jose IAS were also present during the media briefing.
