JOIN USBikers pitch in to ride out Covid storm
The biking community in Bengaluru is doing its bit to help people out in the pandemic.
Brothers Murthaza Junaid and Muteeb Zoheb, owners of Art of Motorcycles in Adugodi, who go on expeditions and also work as tour guides, have now turned into ambulance drivers. They volunteer for night shift duties with Mercy Mission every day.
They were moved by the desperate scramble for hospital beds and resources. “There was an imbalance in the number of people asking for help and volunteers on the ground,” says Zoheb. He called NGOs around the city to see how he could help.
Zoheb saw how many people were not able to reach the hospital in time. Patients taken in autos were being sent back because of a directive that only those arriving in ambulances be given hospital beds.
Soon after Zoheb started volunteering, his brother Junaid joined him. “Humanity always comes first for us. This is a time when our city needed our help the most. If everyone gets scared, who is going to help?” says Junaid.
The brothers lost their mother three months ago. “Our pain is still raw but helping others is helping us cope,” says Zoheb.
Years of expedition training is coming in handy in their volunteering duties. “Over the years, we have learnt how to use the oximeter and oxygen tanks. We have also learnt how to carry people and calm them down,” says Junaid.
The brothers have shifted their family to a farmhouse in Sakleshpur and isolated themselves in a house in RT Nagar.
Women bikers’ group
She For Society, a women’s biker group founded by Harshini Venkatesh, is running a free ambulance service.
Its ambulance moves Covid-19 patients from home to hospital, hospital to hospital, and hospital to diagnostic centres. The service, on till June 5, is accessible within city limits. “If the demand goes up after that date, we will extend our services accordingly,” Harshini says.
The group is trying to acquire another ambulance for non-Covid patients. It has handed out ration kits and delivered medicines to senior citizens earlier.
Bikers donate ambulances
The Special Initiative Riders Group, a Harley Davidson bikers group founded by biker Ganesh Prasad, recently donated two ambulances. “Our group pooled in Rs 12 lakh and gifted one ambulance each to Mercy Mission and Saving Souls Foundation,” says Ganesh. Since last week, the group is giving out 400 meals a day to those in need. It will soon start ration distribution across the city.
Ambulance services
Mercy Mission: 86608 56709
She for Society: 96635 65321, 98862 18218
Saving Souls Foundation: 81057 42742