Lack of awareness an issue in govt free-meal scheme at its schools
NEW DELHI: With plastic and steel containers, several people queued outside a government school in east Delhi’s Trilokpuri area Sunday morning, hoping for a meal from the Delhi government. The crowd comprised mostly daily wage labourers and their families.
Navin Nandkishore, a Trilokpuri resident who sets up tents, said he came after hearing from his friends that he might get food there. He was, however, asked to leave since he had brought with him a polythene bag. “They gave me a little food, but only after I pleaded with them” he said.
While anyone in need can step into these centres to get a meal, volunteers said they strictly denied those coming to collect food in polythene bags due to “health concerns.”
Reeta Gupta, a volunteer, said, “There is a scope of touching hands in case of a polythene bag. So we have strictly banned it.”
The centre was among the 500 that the government has set up in. Midday meal workers, who reside in nearby localities, have been roped in to distribute food.
Though the government has promised to arrange for two meals per day at these schools for at least 500 people, lack of awareness about the initiative and restrictions on the movement of people is posing to be a major challenge while reaching out to beneficiaries.
Mohammad Abrar, a father of four, who was waiting for a meal, said: “Why didn’t the government think of the poor before the lockdown? The school did not inform us. I just happened to notice it when I was passing by.”
Volunteers said that people could cite their family size and food would be distributed accordingly, but many people did not know this either, hiding the food packet from an earlier school under their jacket.
Accessibility to these food centres has also become a major issue for the targetted beneficiaries. For instance, the Janki Devi SKV school in Mayur Vihar Phase I is no longer a food centre, according to school staff, since it is located inside residential quarters.
School authorities said the food was transferred to another government school in the nearby Chilla village.
NAVIN NANDKISHORE, A TRILOKPURI RESIDENT WHO SETS UP TENTS, SAID HE CAME AFTER HEARING FROM HIS FRIENDS THAT HE MIGHT GET FOOD THERE.