22 lakh food packets distributed among needy by Noida authority so far

Twenty-two lakh cooked food packets have been distributed among the needy during 29 days of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, said Avinash Tripathy, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Noida authority, on Monday.

Tripathi said the community kitchens started on March 29 amid the lockdown.

"Noida authority started the cooked food distribution on March 29 with 5 community kitchens situated at Bhangel, Sorkha, Mamura, Sh Mandir and Harola Sector 5 Noida," Tripathy told .

"On the first day on March 29, we distributed 25,000 to 30,000 cooked food packets among the needy people. So far, we have distributed 22 lakh cooked food packets within 29 days of the lockdown. 22 lakh cooked food packets mean around 11 lakh people have been provided with food including lunch and dinner," he added.

"Day by day the number increased as many orgsations and NGOs, RWAs came forward for help. Yesterday, we distributed 1.14 lakh cooked food packets to hungry people," he said.

The long queue of labourers including men, women and children was there to collect food at the largest community kitchen situated at Bhangel. They got khichdi, cold drink, biscuits and chips. The distribution process was closely monitored by Tripathy.

Tripathi informed that "compes like DLF, HCL, TCS, Samsung, LG, DS Group, IFFCO, Agrawal Mitra Mandal, etc., are helping us. 7X societies like Mahagun Moderne, Civitech Resident Welfare Association, Sector 61, Sector 18 Gurudwara, Radha Swami Satsang, ISKCON Mandir, and Akshay Patra are actively contributing to this noble cause," he said.

Mukesh Vaish, Senior Manager, Noida authority, said that Akshay Patra Foundation of Vrindavan is daily sending around 25,000 packets of cooked food, while NGO called Feed My Noida is contributing more than 10,000 food packets daily.

"There are more than 30 societies, which are sending daily around 25,000 chapatis, which we collect from the gate of these societies and send these to all distribution centres. We have the stock of raw ration of around 10 days. We are prepared to continue this community kitchen beyond May 3 if the lockdown is extended," said Vaish.

( With inputs from ANI )