Noida authority provides food to thousands of daily wagers

The Noida authority is providing food to thousands of migrant labourers and other needy people across the city who have been rendered jobless due to the nationwide

The Noida authority is providing food to thousands of migrant labourers and other needy people across the city who have been rendered jobless due to the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus, officials said on Saturday.

HT Image

For this purpose, the authority has set up five community kitchens in Harola, Mamura, Sorkha, Bhangel and Sector 14A (near Shani Temple). To serve quality food to the needy, the authority staff are also having meal with the needy, the officials said.

In this initiative, several NGOs and private companies such as Samsung, Akshay Patra, Ironman security firm, Rajasthan Kalyan Parishad, DLF, and Radha Swami society have come forward to help the authority, said the officials.

The authority has formed five teams to monitor the cooking operations and delivery to the needy. The Noida authority chief executive officer, Ritu Maheshwari, has directed the staff to ensure food is delivered to the right people.

“We are maintaining a database of all those who are being served food daily. The Noida authority, along with NGOs, served food to 37,246 people on Friday. The authority is providing food in morning and evening daily,” said Maheshwari.

The authority teams are reaching out to those living in slums, villages and at closed construction sites, where most of the migrant workers live. The Noida authority alone employs at least 8,000 migrant labourers, who work at its different construction and maintenance sites.

If required, the authority will increase the capacity to ensure no homeless man stays hungry in the city during the lockdown that is ordered till April 14, said the officials.

The authority has started providing food to the needy after instructions from the Uttar Pradesh government that wants people to stay home and maintain social distancing so that Covid-19 spread can be contained effectively.

However, some people are still not getting food regularly. At least 150 migrant labourers from Bihar staying in Sector 37 complained that they have failed to get food daily. “We could get only khichdi some times since March 25 when the nationwide lockdown came into force. We want to go home but cannot do so as the borders are sealed and there is not transport facility,” said Gulshan Kumar, a migrant labourer.