Sikh Gurdwara in Delhi feeds poor amid COVID-19 pandemic

The Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in Delhi is serving the needy even amid COVID-19 pandemic. Though religious congregations across the country have been put on hold, the Delhi gurdwara has kept its kitchen open where people are cooking food and delivering it to those in need.

New Delhi:For centuries the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara temple in India's capital city has served free meals to people from all religions, keeping in line with the Sikh tradition of service.

But during India's ongoing coronavirus lockdown, religious congregations are banned and there are no visitors to serve.

But Bangla Sahib has kept its kitchen open with about four dozen men who have been living inside the temple.

In colorful turbans and cloth bandanas tied over their noses and mouths, they work in the industrial kitchen, making over 100,000 meals a day.

Since people can't visit the gurdwara, a Sikh house of worship, the management committee is delivering the food to thousands of people in need all around New Delhi during the lockdown.

"No one should go to sleep hungry," said Harbhej Singh, kitchen manager at Bangla Sahib. "Our only mission is to make food and make sure it reaches them."

Bangla Sahib is the largest of New Delhi's 10 gurdwaras, whose kitchens together form a vital part of the city's strategy to feed the poor during the pandemic.

The government sends trucks to pick up the meals each day and distribute them to a network of shelters and drop-off points, but pays nothing for the food.

The kitchens rely on donated ingredients, equipment and the kitchen workers who left their families to sleep in temple guest houses between long shifts.

Inputs from AP

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