Covid-19: Raigarh police in Chhattisgarh distributes over 14 lakh masks, sets world record

RAIPUR: The “Ek Rakshasutra Mask Ka” initiated by Raigarh police aimed at spreading awareness among citizens is on its way to make it to Guinness Book of World Records with distribution of more than 14 lakh face masks to curb the spread of Covid-19 pandemic .


Raigarh SP Santosh Singh told TOI, “The Rakshasutra campaign is heading towards making it to Guinness Book of World Records while the Golden book of World records has in principle agreed for registration.

The campaign took off with a plain objective of spreading awareness by distributing one lakh masks, but eventually it went superhit with hundreds of volunteers coming forward.”

People poured in for donating masks from all corners of the district and the campaign went contagious reaching out to more than 1,500 villages and 48 wards. From the village Sarpanch, Kotwar, corporators, police volunteers and local citizens and industrialists, everyone became a part of this unique campaign that never happened before anywhere in the country, said SP Singh.

A district level programme was organized on Monday at Raigarh police control room in the presence of sports minister Umesh Patel, MLAs, mayor and district collector and senior officials. Raigarh SP has thanked all the citizens who have given their participation directly and indirectly for spreading awareness among the citizens regarding necessity of wearing face masks.

The Raigarh police have encouraged sisters to give masks to brothers along with Rakhi as ‘Rakshasutra’ and brothers to gift face masks to their sisters. Also, citizens and institutions were encouraged to give face masks to their friends, family and employees. Simultaneously, an awareness campaign was launched by the police to bring awareness about face masks on Rakhsabandhan festival, distributing masks throughout the district. Earlier, the target was to distribute about eight lakhs masks but over 12.37 face masks were received from the people till the last day and were distributed.

Raigarh SP Santosh Singh said that over 12.37 masks were obtained with the help of a total of 362 different institutions and organizations. The same were distributed in the entire district with the special support of 985 policemen and 7,500 volunteers. Also, various institutions and people distributed an estimated 2.5 lakh masks. The total distribution of face masks in the district is 14.87 lakh. Maximum face masks were distributed to the people in need.

Youth across the district also supported the campaign through social media. Hoardings were placed throughout the district and pamphlets were distributed. As per the work plan, all masks were transported from the collection center to the places concerned on Sunday evening.