Mumbai, Aug 17, 2020: The Maharashtra government has honored a Divine Word priest for exceptional service to nation-building.
The western Indian state’s Disaster Management Department conferred the ‘Corona Warrior’ Award on Father Richard Quadros, director of Sarva Vikas Deep, a social service center at Mangaon in Raigad district on August 15, India’s 74th Independence Day.
The award contains a citation honoring the priest and it was given away by Aditi Tatkare, state Minister for Industry, Mining, Tourism, Sports, Youth Welfare, Information.
The district collector, and Superintendent of Police, were among the dignitaries present.
The Church center has worked among the poorest of the poor for the 14 years in the Raigad belt with a special focus on the Katkari tribe. The unprecedented nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic affected the tribal community immensely.
The Cyclone Nisarga on June 2 escalated their suffering. The Church center worked as a warrior during these times, organizing a safe reverse migration for about 1,200 tribals hailing from Karnataka, Telangana and from other districts of Maharashtra.
It assisted government departments in quarantine efforts and supplied 3,500 tribals with dry rations during the quarantine period, organized community counseling in 90 villages to address the social stigma attached to Covid19, regularized the tribals’ access to the government’s public distribution system (PDS), and later undertook relief measures among the cylclone-hit.
After receiving the award, Father Quadros said that he was humbled by the award. “I dedicate this award to the people, especially the tribals of Raigad, who are suffering from both Covid19 pandemic and the effects of the super cyclone.”
He also acknowledged the support and partnership of the Society of the Divine Word, Archdiocese of Bombay, Centre for Social Action, Health Promotion Trust, Raigad Janhit Manch, and Johny Joseph, the former Bombay Municipal Commissioner, without whose support the award would not have been possible.
The Examiner