An NGO distributes meals packets amongst migrant employees at Bandra Terminus. (Photo: Nirmal Harindran)
For 12 days now, migrant employees boarding the Railways’ particular Shramik trains from main stations have been handed a cooked meal, a snack, a bottle of water and, in some circumstances, cleaning soap or hand sanitiser and a face masks, due to a civil society initiative that began with offering meals to the neediest communities in the course of the lockdown and is now additionally reaching out to these boarding trains and buses house.
Since May 13, after they started with offering packed meals to passengers on board six or seven trains, they’ve clocked multiple lakh meals in whole for these boarding the trains alone. In addition, the initiative can also be serving these boarding buses from Thane’s Majiwade junction.
Last Wednesday, volunteers of the initiative served 25 trains of the 35 in whole that departed from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Bandra Terminus, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Borivali.
“It started when food and hospitality entrepreneur Niti Goel of Fraaser Kitchens had a conversation with a migrant walking a few hundred kilometres to head home,” mentioned Anil Gadia, a businessman, who’s now dealing with funds for Khaanachahiye.com. “We continued the conversation among us and realised that the poor, who are headed home, need support too.”
While motley crews of do-gooders present a number of hundred bottles of water or packs of roasted gram in smaller numbers exterior numerous stations, Khaanachahiye has liaised with the police and the Railways to ensure each passenger boarding the trains allotted to the group is offered a meal for the journey house.
Khaanachahiye.com, began by Project Mumbai, social activist Ruben Mascarenhas and cybersecurity skilled Pathik Muni on March 29, has been supplying a median of 70,000 meals on daily basis to Mumbai’s poor communities, utilizing the experience {of professional} kitchens to organize and package deal the meals and the goodwill of volunteers to boost cash and deal with logistics. Their volunteers belong to the meals trade, non-governmental organisations, housing societies, huge corporates, start-ups, and extra.
“We started with six or seven Shramik trains on May 13 after the Railways gave us permission. In total, we have provided meals to passengers on about 75 trains now,” Muni mentioned.
The major meal is from Fraaser Kitchens, Dinesh Caterers and Charris Hospitalities. A bottle of water was offered from the beginning. In addition, a dry snack, akin to mathri, was added from Wednesday onwards. “Also, we add a pack of wafers or biscuits whenever we get it from donors,” Muni mentioned.
Paras Soni, who works with a funds gateway know-how firm, spends most days at one of many stations. “I arrive at 8 am, coordinate with the kitchens, the transporter, the water bottle supplier and the Railways,” he mentioned. Train schedules might be erratic, and high-volume objects, akin to water bottles, should be ferried into stations a number of occasions a day. The staff units up the objects earlier than the queue of verified passengers enters the station, guaranteeing distribution is orderly.
Swaraj Shetty, a know-how and communications skilled on a sabbatical, mentioned the initiative is on the lookout for extra assist and volunteers, and hopes to maintain the hassle till the tip of the lockdown.
Already, Khaanachahiye has served communities alongside the Eastern and Western Express Highways, Link Road in addition to labour camps in Masjid Bunder, Malad, Chembur and Govandi. They are actually reaching out to communities alongside the Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg.
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