By Varun Singh

The lockdown post the pandemic of Coronavirus showed various aspects of human faces, that normally goes unnoticed.

One of them was, providing meals to those who needed them the most and couldn’t manage it during the lockdown.

Khaana Chahiye, a people-driven initiative did what many didn’t imagine could be done during the lockdown crisis.

The initiative powered by non-government organisations like Project Mumbai, Litmus Test Project and Bharat Uttan Sangh provided 3.7 million meals during lockdown.

The aim of the campaign: tackle the hunger problem caused by the tragic Covid-19 lockdown by collaborating with stakeholders like the government, civil society and organizations keen on funding.

From a baseline figure of 1200 on March 29, the group has served 37 lakh meals as of June 13.

Khaana Chahiye not only helps cope hunger in the city but also map the homeless, assist migrant workers and made sure they head their destination.

Meals were delivered on six significant routes including Western Express highway, Eastern Express Highway, LBS Marg, SV Road, Link Road covering all Suburbs.

This helped underpin the Migrant relief operations at four transit points- Thane, Dahisar, Vashi and Kalamboli.

The group also assisted the BMC to provide free food, water, other essentials at Bandra terminus, LTT Kurla and CSMT for the Shramik Express operations, arranged transport for stranded labour through Ghar Bhejo Campaign.

They have also distributed ration kits, visited orphanages to check on them, organised buses for migrants hailing from UP, Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Currently, Khaana Chahiye has been aiding daily wage laboures, commercial sex workes and those on the margins by distributing ration kits to help return to normalcy and have distributed 10,000 kits so far.

The group even catered to 240 Shramik Expresses commissioned by the Government of India, serving over 4,32,000 people.

The migrant relief operations at the transit points of the city have served more than 1 lakh people as well.

On May 31, they ran a special operation for migrants leaving for UP at Thane station. Over 900 people boarded in trains bound towards Azamgarh and Varanasi.

The group is supported by 100+ volunteers who help at 70 points across Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai to conduct the campaigns daily.

Ruben Mascarenhas and Pathik Muni co founded the initative with Shishir Joshi, Neeti Goel Adv Rakesh Singh, Swaraj Shetty and Anik Gadia.

“Khaana Chahiye is a citizen movement, which looks at hunger as the central problem, to be solved in our battle against COVID 19. Moreover, hunger is a core healthcare problem, since inadequate meals leads to inadequate nutrition, leading to lower immunity levels which lead to greater susceptibility of contracting the virus. We are a team of 200 odd volunteers on the ground and we are glad that we are doing our bit”, said Ruben Mascarenhas, Co-Founder of Khaana Chahiye.

Also Read: Parties to shift from pubs to home, post lockdown

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