Aligarh: After Prime Minister announced nationwide lockdown for 21 days, Raju, a daily wage earner was seen eating discarded food on the roadside. The scene was witnessed near Anoopshahar road in Aligarh where Raju, who had not eaten anything from past two days, was seen eating falliyan, commonly known as mulberry beans out of desperation and hunger.
Not able to work from past five days, Raju and his family were starving out of hunger. Left with no money and resources, Raju had no option but to eat the leftovers. Having received attention by none, Raju was finally given food by Upkar Sansthan who brought food from Gandhi Park.
Like Raju, millions of poor workers were not able to go back to their native villages and most of them have started desperately fleeing cities. To tackle the hunger crisis, meetings are being arranged for providing food and essential commodities for the needy.
Construction workers and poor people are struggling to get food after the lockdown which seems to be a death warrant for the country's poor and the needy. Hunger and poverty are looming over their heads and these poor workers fear that hunger will kill them before deadly coronavirus.
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Heart wrenching scenes have surfaced on social media where contractual workers and the vulnerable were seen appealing to the government to provide them with food.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath has directed the administration of districts along the state border to ensure that those people who had just entered the state and were stuck at the border should be provided with food and lodging on priority. Food should also reach those living in night shelters and shelter homes.
Community kitchens from where cooked food will be provided to the homeless, daily wage earners and residents of slum dwellings, are being set up across the state. The Chief Minister has also said that medicines should be supplied to people at their doorsteps using the helpline 112, 108, 102 and ambulance services in the state. Help should be sought from the Indian Medical Association for this drive. He said that contractual workers of the health and health education departments will be paid at the earliest.
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Uttar Pradesh government has started supplying essential food items at door steps with the help of police personnel and have urged people not to step out of their houses. The government has also now permitted use of MLA and MLC development funds for treatment, screening and testing of COVID-19. District administrations have been told to get in touch with concerned MLAs and MLCs for their approval to use the funds for either the health or the health education departments.
According to the Health Ministry, a total of 724 COVID-19 positive cases have been detected in the country, out of which 67 have been cured and 17 have died. Uttar Pradesh has 41 positive cases of Covid-19 and no casualty has been reported so far.
