Non-vaccinated people were not provided with relief packages at a Covid-19 relief distribution camp in a Shillong locality yesterday, a worrying portent that those who are not vaccinated, for whatever reason, will face discrimination.
The Covid-19 relief camp was held by the Sanjuk Samay Welfare Association and the Assam Rifles Business Welfare Association, supported by the local MLA, Lambor Malngiang, in Happy Valley-Madanrting wherein rice and a range of food items were distributed to marginalised people who do not have ration cards.
But the organizers publicly announced that the relief items would be given only to vaccinated persons. This is despite the Meghalaya High Court ruling that any kind of discrimination and restriction with regard to vaccination is against the fundamental rights of citizens. This is the kind of social divide that the government protocols are encouraging, say worried citizens spoken to.
The organizers said that they had taken a one-to-one survey of the beneficiaries. The poorest of the poor were chosen, such as the ones with no ration cards and no work due to the lockdown, the organizers said. Even their homes were visited to ensure that only the very needy were the recipients of the relief.
“You will be happy to know that we ensured that those without vaccination were not given tokens (to receive the relief package). All the public standing here are vaccinated,” a functionary of the organizations said in a video of the event that is circulating on social media.
Malngiang was also present and he was seen supporting this stand. He said that he has asked that every person in the villages under this constituency should be vaccinated, because, according to him, his constituency suffered more than 35-40 Covid-19 deaths in the past two months.
Cases have only come down because of the strict lockdown imposed by the government, he added.
The secretary of the Sanjuk, Rajesh Kumar, told Highland Post that it was true that they had made it a point to ensure that all the 250 people who were given a token were ones who had taken the jab.
Asked why food relief was given only to vaccinated persons, Kumar said that it so happened that in all the families that were in need of relief there were persons who had taken the vaccination and they had come to get the support.
Asked if he felt it is fair for NGOs whose object is to help poor people in dire circumstances to differentiate between those who are vaccinated and those who are not, Kumar replied that so far “no person has complained to them about this kind of thing.”
He added that if any such persons complain then he would put together a relief package for them “because our intention was not to discriminate in any way.”
So far the two NGOs have distributed about 900 packages of ration materials to those who have lost their livelihoods during the lockdown.
