4 lakh poor to be fed daily: Kejriwal
■ 325 city schools converted into food serving centres
Amid reports of hundreds of people not having access to food during the nationwide lockdown, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said lunch and dinner would be served to 4 lakh needy people across the national capital from Saturday.
“So far, we were providing food to 20,000 people daily. The number will now increase to around 2,00,000 from Friday. The number will be doubled from Saturday. We will be providing food to 4,00,000 people daily,” Mr Kejriwal announced.
Mr Kejriwal also said that the Delhi government had set up a team of five doctors to work out a plan to tackle the coronavirus outbreak. He informed that the team of doctors submitted a detailed SOP (standard operating procedure) on the issue and the government is fully prepared to deal with upto 100 patients per day and are preparing for 1,000 positive cases daily in future.
“I had formed a team of five doctors under the chairmanship of Dr Sareen, who is the head of ILBS hospital. The team has done brilliant work and submitted its report on Thursday, including a comprehensive plan of action on the preparations done in the wake of the surge in Covid-19 cases in Delhi.
“They the differentiated action plan into three stages, first is what can be done if we get 100 new cases every day, second is what can be done if we get 500 new cases every day, and third is what can be done if we get 1,000 new cases every day,” CM Kejriwal said.
For the poorest sections of the society, the Delhi government is providing free ration to the people. Those who do not have ration cards, are being fed meals by the Delhi government at 224 night shelters.
“I have also instructed the MLAs to ensure that no one in their constituency should suffer from hunger. They should collaborate with the society and provide food to all,” said the CM.
Mr Kejriwal appealed migrant workers to not leave the national capital in the wake of the 21-day lockdown as the Delhi government has made sufficient arrangements for them. He said the government has also set up ‘’hunger relief centres’’ to serve free meals to the needy people in all districts.
In the wake of the lockdown to the combat the coronavirus threat, thousands of migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states have started returning back to their home states.
The chief minister said pension of `5,000 each has been transferred into the bank accounts of eight lakh beneficiaries.