With Religious Zeal, Govt Turns 29 Acres Of Ashram Into 10k-bed Covid Care Facility

New Delhi: On the outskirts of south Delhi close to the leafy Asola-Bhatti sanctuary are farmhouses and villas. Among them is the ashram of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas, which is now being converted into a 10,000-bed Covid care facility. Under a vast shed on the 29-acre space used for religious congregations, endless rows of beds are been installed, soaps, water and bins being placed.

- Paras Singh & Alok KN Mishra

Overseeing the work, Vikas Sethi, secretary of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas centre, exclaimed that when the shed, equipped with 5,000 fans, was erected two decades ago, nobody could have envisaged its use as a hospital ward one day. “We were informed about the lieutenant governor arriving on Sunday for a feasibility check. Things were set into motion four days ago,” revealed Sethi. Government officials said the new facility could start receiving Covid patients by the first week of July.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and deputy CM Manish Sisodia inspected the work under way at the Radha Soami centre on Thursday. Regarding the world's largest temporary Covid care facility, Kejriwal said, “Patients with mild symptoms or asymptomatic patients will be admitted here. Generally, such patients can be treated at home, but in many cases, people do not have adequate space in their homes. There are no separate toilets in the homes of poor people, and so isolation centres like the Radha Soami Satsang Beas will serve them better.” Currently over 25,000 corona-positive Delhiites are in home isolation, and their health is regularly assessed remotely by surveillance units set up in the districts.