'Critics should try and do something themselves'

Prakash Nadar, a Prabhadevi resident, has donated blood more than 100 times

Shiv Sena's corporator from Prabhadevi Samadhan Sarvankar has hit back at the BJP and others for panning the blood donation drive being organised on Sunday, where non-vegetarian donors will get 1 kg of chicken and vegetarians will get 1 kg of paneer. The drive has been organised at Rajbhau Salvi maidan at Prabhadevi, opposite the Saamana press.

Fears in public
"Those who criticise should do something, instead of merely talking. Anybody can talk," said an irked Sarvankar, who is a core committee member of Maharashtra Yuva Sena, on being asked about his response on some from the BJP criticising the initiative.

"The BJP had a massive missed call campaign, you may remember, for registering people as party members. They could have done a campaign to register blood donors and held a camp that would have been beneficial to society. Critics need to channelise their energy into something constructive," Sarvankar said.

"Today, we have a severe blood crunch, thanks to the pandemic and it has thrown so many curve balls at all of us. The main reason of course is the fear of going to a hospital or any medical facility to donate blood. There are some who mistakenly believe that at the camp they will be told they have contracted coronavirus. Then there is the mobility crunch. Lesser public transport services means accessibility difficulties. Colleges are closed, offices have told their employees to work from home. These are factors contributing to depleting stocks and a dire situation," explained Sarvankar.

Preparations for drive
The corporator said the ground was ready for the drive. "Beds will be brought to the maidan and other preparations will go on through Saturday. We already have 500 registrations, which I feel is a good number. We are hoping to get some more by Saturday. We won't allow people aged 50 and above to donate in these times, and of course, all safety protocols will be followed," Sarvankar said.

Prakash Nadar, a local resident who is differently abled and calls himself the motivator for having donated blood more than 100 times, said, "This is a good programme and sets us on a path to incentivise blood donation." Maybe the government can consider something like free bus or train passes to blood donors above a certain number of donations. This is not a rule, but can certainly be a subject that can trigger discussion and debate," he added.

Polio-afflicted Nadar, whose mission is operation blood flood, said, "We must see much more publicity and awareness about blood donation. The attention that this drive is getting because of this novelty aspect, maybe, is a nudge in that direction."

Dec 13
Day the blood donation drive will be held

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