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Relieving hunger, warming hearts: Covid volunteers show the way
People are doing what they can in their own way. Some of them running tiffin services, including Nirmal Varma in Sector 35 and Aaakriti Sachdev in Panchkula, now provide meals to labourers with their neighbours chipping in with dry rations, biscuits and savouries
Thursday was not a good day for a group of volunteers running community kitchens for migrant rickshaw pullers and labourers stranded in the city without any means of income because of the lockdown to prevent transmission of Covid-19. The reason for the gloom was that they were not allowed to use one of their kitchen spaces and so could not serve food to about 500 homeless people.
However, much to everyone’s relief, with an alternate space provided the next day, the kitchen was functional again, providing breakfast and afternoon meals to the workers.
“After the lockdown we started with 200 to 250 people but the numbers rose to 500 plus as more workers started coming to the distribution areas in Sectors 34 and 44. Then we started feeding construction labourers too who were stranded in different sites in the city and workers who slept in a city petrol pump,” says inspector Ram Dayal of the Chandigarh police, who is working in his personal capacity with civilian friends.
“We made it a point to start with a morning meal as very few were doing it and then started distributing soaps to them for washing hands,” he adds.
Another anonymous group is also doing its bit to help labourers not just in the tricity but several other towns too. Started by a writer-filmmaker who wishes to remain anonymous, the group was able to raise Rs 10 lakh and disperse it among workers in dire straits.
Speaking on the behalf of the group which includes writers, academics, journalists, hoteliers, doctors, academics, shopkeepers and students, Harish Jain, a tricity publisher says: “We were able to provide a 32-kg ration kit worth Rs 1,400 each to 600 workers and cash relief of Rs 2,500 each to 800 others we could not reach due to the lockdown.” Besides dry rations, the kit included washing-bathing soaps and sanitary pads.
The group also thoughtfully provided dates to a group of Muslim labourers to break their Ramzan fast.
The volunteers are now collecting donations for the month of May.
People are doing what they can in their own way. Some of them running tiffin services, including Nirmal Varma in Sector 35 and Aaakriti Sachdev in Panchkula, now provide meals to labourers with their neighbours chipping in with dry rations, biscuits and savouries.
Karkirat Singh, a businessman volunteering with the Serve Humanity Serve God NGO, is busy supervising packaging of ration kits in the Sector 15 gurdwara to be distributed to labourers in Mohali and Kharar. “We have been helping disadvantaged families for many years and our volunteers are now reaching out with monthly supplies to some 250 labourers.”
