Noida authority, police distribute food and ration to daily wagers hit by the national lockdown

The Noida authority on Sunday distributed food to the economically weaker people and daily wage workers who no longer have access to essential goods and cannot work

The Noida authority on Sunday distributed food to the economically weaker people and daily wage workers who no longer have access to essential goods and cannot work amid the national lockdown. The Noida police also distributed food items and ration to over 2,000 people who have been left with little access to means of survival in different areas of the city.

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Chief executive officer of the Noida authority, Ritu Maheshwari, had directed the authority staff to reach different areas of the city and distribute the food, which included poori (a deep-fried Indian bread) and potato curry. The move comes after the Uttar Pradesh government directed officials to ensure that all those in need get food in this time of crisis as the country fights to halt the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The authority staff distributed the cooked food to daily wage workers, who are passing through Noida to reach their home towns, and also to those living in slum dwellings in sectors 8, 9, 10,11 and Harola, Jhundpura among other areas.

“We are trying to help those who have no food and are economically backward. We are trying to give food to as many people as we can,” Maheshwari said.

At least 150 staffers of the authority along with at least 100 volunteers distributed the cooked food to over 3,500 persons on Sunday. NGO’s and charitable organisations such as the Akshay Patra Foundation had provided the cooked food—procured through funds collected under corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives by groups such as the DS Group, DLF Group—to the Noida authority.

Additionally, the authority has also started community kitchens at four places—Mamura, Sorkha, Shani Temple in Sector 14A and Bhangel for those who don’t have access to ration amid the 21-day national lockdown.

Meanwhile, the authority on Sunday also sanitised various police stations and police posts in the city. The authority’s health department on Sunday sanitised Sector 20 police station, Phase 2 police post, Sector 24 police station, the women police station in Sector 39, Film City police post in Sector 16A among other public buildings.

As daily wage workers, who are walking on foot from Gurugram, Delhi and other nearby cities, pass through the Gautam Budh Nagar district in order to get to their home towns such as Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura, the district administration and the police said they are working round the clock to ease their movement.

“We have distributed food packets to hundreds of people, whom we found walking on the city roads. Our drive to serve food to those in need will continue,” a Noida authority official, not authorised to speak to the media, said.

The commissioner of police, Alok Singh, has directed the police officers to provide food items and ration across the district to people in need. The police distributed food and ration to people in Sector Phase 2 area, Garhi Chowkhandi, Sorkha and other areas along the Noida Expressway.

“We are making announcements on the loudspeaker requesting people to stay at home and follow the lockdown instructions. We are ready to help those who need food and assist them with other requirements, but nobody should come out on streets,” Singh said.