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Lucknow admn to set up cloth banks to help poor tide over winter
Commoners, NGOs, corporate houses and others would be roped in to run these cloth banks, said Lucknow district magistrate Abhishek Prakash
To help the poor and the needy sail through the harsh winter, the Lucknow district administration is going to set up at least five cloth banks. Officials said they were chalking out a plan to ensure that the stocked clothes reached the poor.
“It has been observed that many homeless people are forced to spend the nights in the open, that too without proper woollens. Hence, we have decided to set up five cloth banks, covering all corners of the city, to provide beddings and woollens to the homeless,” said Abhishek Prakash, district magistrate, while addressing a meeting on Rain Baseras.
The DM said commoners, NGOs, corporate houses and others would be roped in to run these banks. “We will appeal to people, NGOs and others to donate with an open heart. We will accept bed sheets, old blankets, old quilts, sweaters and other woollens,” he said.
For those who cannot come over to the banks to deposit old cloths, there will be a dedicated courier service. “The service man would collect the old clothes from the house and deliver it at the banks,” added the DM.
Once the clothes are collected, the banks would be made open to the needy people. The remaining clothes would be transported to the Rain Baseras where they will be distributed among the gathering.
However, the DM said the administration was yet to finalise the date when these banks would get operational.
The administration is also going to increase the numbers of Rain Baseras to accommodate the maximum numbers of homeless. The DM has also directed the Nagar Nigam and other departments to give a facelift to the existing Rain Baseras. “We are also preparing a list of the old government establishments that would be transformed into Rain Baseras,” he said.
