Guwahati:
Khalsa Centre Northeast today completed two months of their Fight Against Hunger initiative amid the coronavirus-triggered lockdown by celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr with slum dwellers in three localities of Kamrup Metro district of Assam.
The members of the organization today cooked a sumptuous meal comprising vegetables, pulao, kheer and grams which was distributed at the Biharbari, Badhagaon and Gandhi Basti areas in the city. Locals of the area, such as one Nasir Mia, were especially thankful as they are daily wage labourers who have not found any work amid the lockdown. Interestingly, women and children of Morakhali too have joined the drive to feed the poor, unfortunate and hungry in these testing times. Social worker Ashma Begum and Assam Baseball Association General Secretary Sobhana Chaudhury also chose to observe their Eid by joining the Khalsa Centre's volunteers in serving food.
PP Singh, the Chairman of the Khalsa Centre Northeast said, "We started with food for about 1,500 people but soon we increased our production so that we could feed 2,000 to 3,000 people. Significantly, on April we peaked at serving 5000 people every day including railway labour at North Guwahati and Azra with almost 750 people including homeless, drug addicts betters etc coming to Morakhali where we cook our food from morning to have their food every day."
Singh claims that during these sixty days of lockdown, the Khalsa Centre Northeast has reached out to over 2.6 lakh people in over seventy localities providing them "hot, hygienic and healthy food." Help later started coming from unexpected corners as people in Guwahati,started chiming in with donations such as ration, LPG, money, gloves, vegetables, vehicles, because of which the group has been able to continue feeding amid the lockdown. "We request the Government to help us setup a community kitchen from where we can run a langar and feed the needy every day even when there is no lockdown", Singh appeals.