Covid booster dose for BMTC employees

Y Maheswara Reddy | NT

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is conducting a Covid-19 vaccination drive for the employees of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). This drive aims to vaccinate over 20,000 employees across BMTC bus depots in the city, including drivers, mechanics and admin staff.

As part of this initiative, a Covid vaccination programme was organised at the BMTC Depot No. 2, Shanthinagar on Tuesday.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation strives to address vaccine hesitancy among marginalized communities through its incentivized vaccination drives. “I am very happy with a booster dose which is essential for me. I want to thank Akshaya Patra Foundation for organizing the vaccination drive for the benefit of BMTC employees,” said Satyanarayana M., a mechanic working at BMTC Depot No. 2, Shanthinagar.

To motivate people, every person who comes forward to get vaccinated receives free pre-jab refreshments; post-jab lunch, and a Raksha Kit - a customised ration kit with groceries for 21 meal servings. Each of the kit consists of one kg of rice, a kilo of wheat flour, 500 gm toor dal, 500 gm desi chana, 500 gm green moong whole, 250 gm peanuts, 200 gm turmeric powder, one kg sugar, one kg salt, a litre of refined oil and a bar of soap.

“I want to thank the volunteers of Akshaya Patra Foundation for arranging a third dose (booster) for us,” said Uma A.S., a conductor working at Depot No. 2, Shanthinagar.

Sundeep Talwar, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), The Akshaya Patra Foundation, said that many people, especially from vulnerable communities, such as slum dwellers and daily wagers, hesitate to take the vaccine due to misconceptions. “To address this vaccine hesitancy, we decided to initiate Incentivised Vaccination Drives where we educate people about the need to get vaccinated and also provide them ‘Raksha Kits’ as an incentive. We have so far vaccinated 23,000 citizens in Bengaluru and plan to cover 1,00,000 across the country by end March 2022,” Talwar said.

The Chief Marketing Officer has said that it was of great honour that state government organisations such as BMTC had obliged in extending this programme to their employees and staff for booster dose. “The Government of Karnataka and Government of India have always been supportive of all our endeavours, be it the feeding programs or nonfeeding programs, such as the ongoing incentivised vaccination drives,” he said.