How Utkarsh Kishore led TeamUk to Emerge as Migrants Saviour of Bihar

Though it was the government’s responsibility to care for migrant workers, TeamUk, a Patna-based NGO deserves extra credit for stepping forward to assist them by giving food, drink, and transportation during the two “difficult phases” of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Despite the nationwide lockdown in 2020 and 2021 respectively, a large number of Bihari migrants returned to their native villages and never went back to earn. Utkarsh Kishore, the founder of TeamUk, recalls the scenario and verifies the fact that migrant workers were facing a social boycott in Bihar. Nobody wanted to be near them, and during the first wave, there were no facilities to test COVID suspects. In the midst of chaos, TeamUK contributed and played a vital role while lending a helping hand to migrant workers.

28 yrs old socio-entrepreneur and human rights activist Utkarsh Kishore says, “During both major phases of lockdown, TeamUK focused all efforts on contacting as many migrant workers as possible with basic health and hygiene kits for their children and families.”

In addition, Utkarsh and TeamUK’s volunteers raised awareness among communities by providing relief supplies and advocating for community and children’s access to basic services. Best practices related to public health and hygiene, sanitization, use of face masks, following government guidelines and social distancing, and adding ways to protect people from community spread were among the topics covered in the TeamUK’s COVID awareness programs.

Utkarsh Kishore

According to sources, TeamUK has reached more than 10,000 migrant workers and marginalized families so far. During the crisis, the NGO was distributing over 1000 food packets to the needy and poor people on a daily basis only to curb their difficulty when the administrative system collapsed.