Indian Railways has achieved the milestone of distributing 2 million free meals amid the coronavirus crisis.
The Ministry of Railways, in its press release, said that these free meals were distributed during the nationwide coronavirus lockdown at approximately 300 locations across the country.
Various railway organisations teamed up to feed “hot cooked meals” to the needy and hope to “feed thousands of people every day,” the release added.
The ministry said that stranded persons, daily wage labourers, migrants, children, coolies, homeless, the poor and “many who form the floating population” are the worst-hit due to the lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis.
“Indian Railways staff from a number of Railway organizations have worked tirelessly since 28th March 2020 to provide hot cooked meals to needy people after the lockdown due to Covid-19,” the statement read.
{{/usCountry}}“Indian Railways staff from a number of Railway organizations have worked tirelessly since 28th March 2020 to provide hot cooked meals to needy people after the lockdown due to Covid-19,” the statement read.
{{/usCountry}}The food to the needy has been provided with the help of IRCTC base kitchens, RPF resources and contribution of NGOs.
“Of these, about 11.6 lacs cooked meals have been provided by IRCTC, about 3.6 lacs meals have been provided by RPF from its own resources, about 1.5 lacs meals have been provided by Commercial and other departments of Railways and nearly 3.8 lacs meals have been donated by NGOs working with the Railway organizations,” the ministry stated.
The Union health ministry on Monday morning updated the coronavirus tally in the country to 17,265. The figure includes 14,175 active cases, 2547 people who have been cured or discharged and 543 fatalities. With more than 4,000 coronavirus cases, Maharashtra remains at top of the tally with more than 4,000 cases followed by the national capital which has over 2,000 Covid-19 patients. Gujarat stands at the third spot with 1,743 cases followed by Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.