For the last one month, every day at around 8.30 am, E Raju has lined up close to Gachibowli X Road along with several others. Picking a 'box' drawn on the ground, Raju waits for his turn to avail a sumptuous and healthy meal, for free.
"I work as a construction labourer in the nearby area. Because of the lockdown, I have not been able to get any work. Thanks to this, I get to eat two full meals a day — once in the morning and once in the evening," Raju, a native of East Godavari in Andhra Pradesh says.
Raju is one of the many beneficiaries of the 'Annapurna' scheme started by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in collaboration with the Hare Krishna Movement Charitable Foundation.
Inaugurated with eight centres in 2014 but now having close to 150 centres across the city, the scheme provides hygienic food to several underprivileged people in the city for just Rs 5. With the lockdown due to COVID-19 affecting many, the food is now being given for free.
"It is very helpful because when the lockdown was imposed, construction workers on the site of big projects like gated communities were ordered to be taken care of by their employers. I mostly work on smaller buildings and on a contract basis, so I was not included in that," Raju adds.
K Amit, a watchman of a building where construction was stalled due to the lockdown, also echoes this.
"My employer is paying my salary, but since the lockdown, I have not been able to get gas anywhere. I'm not able to find firewood to cook either, so I am availing the service near Anjaiah Nagar basti twice a day. The food is very hygienic and it has come as a lifesaver," he says.
Earlier this month, in a press release, the GHMC said that it was distributing a meal in the morning to around 45,000 people and dinner to 15,000 people, but with the lockdown increasing the demand, officials of the civic body said that over 1 lakh meals are being provided every day.
According to the GHMC, every meal contains 450 grams of rice, 100 grams dal, sambar and pickle, besides some other items depending on the demand locally at each centre.
The food is mainly cooked at a mega-kitchen located at Narsingi in Hyderabad. It is then transported to all the centres located in the city for distribution.
Mobile canteens
To cater to the elderly and people with disabilities who may not be able to visit the canteens, the civic body in collaboration with the foundation has also started 'mobile canteens' which deliver the scheme to function halls, community halls and other areas as requested by local authorities, where people under lockdown require food.
As of April 22, the GHMC said that food was provided to 1.77 lakhs persons through the mobile canteens on the basis of 3,714 calls. About 30 vehicles are being used for this purpose.
The foundation said that it was also distributing food relief kits consisting of essential groceries to poor people like migrant labourers and daily-wage earners who have lost their livelihood.
The 'dry ration kits' consist of sona masuri rice (5 kg), tur dal (1 kg), oil (0.5 litre), sambar and rasam powder, and vegetables which have a long shelf-life, such as potatoes and pumpkins. Around 31,000 kits which serve 14,88,000 meals have been distributed so far, the foundation said.
In fact, the scheme has been so successful that twelve municipalities in the state have also decided to implement it. This includes municipalities in the districts of Warangal, Mahabubnagar, Siricilla, Karimnagar, Siddipet and Khammam.
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