DDU students feeding the poor in corona times

GORAKHPUR: It needs a strong resolve to lend a helping hand to the poor in tough times. And some students of Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Gorakhpur University have shown these qualities in them by feeding the needy, including rag pickers, rickshaw pullers and slum dwellers, ever since the lockdown was announced to check coronavirus spread in March.

Shiv Shankar Gaur, 25, a student leader and a Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha activist, and his team of eight students ensure food for the poor who can’t afford it on their own as they are jobless these days.

Eminent people, well-off families and teachers make monetary contribution to keep the social service going.

Sporting a red cap, kurta and Nehru jacket, diminutive Gaur, a law student, along with his team reaches out to the poor living under Dharam Shala overbridge, Tarang overbridge and in slum areas around railway station.

So far, Gaur and his team have fed roughly 8500 poor people hailing from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Nepal or other regions.

Resources are limited and hired car of a team member is used for delivering food. For 45 days, the team cooked and served meal to the poor. However, from Sunday (May 10) onwards, the team started distributing raw ration as they no longer can sustain food preparation cost.

They have set a target of distributing 100 ration packets daily. Each packet has pulse, rice, flour, vegetables and other essential items like soap and tooth paste.

Food grain is enough to last two times.

“In the last 45 days, I have developed an emotional bond with these people who also share their pain with us,” Gaur said.

A positive change that Gaur has noticed in them is that these poor people have started wearing masks and washing their hands as the result of an awareness campaign that he undertook while distributing food packets.