Karnataka: Food camps feed 5 lakh poor in 1 week

BENGALURU: Over 700 food camps in Karnataka supplied free meals to the poor every day last week, a huge effort to help struggling communities cope with loss of work and income in the wake of the lockdown. Migrant labourers were among the beneficiaries of the initiative.
A section of the needy may be left out from Saturday as the state government announced late on Friday that free meals would be halted at Indira Canteens, an important chain in ensuring food access in Bengaluru.Subsidised dishes will be resumed at the canteens instead.
According to government data accessed by TOI, 703 food camps — 536 operated by the government and 173 by NGOs — are being used to provide food to about 1.4 lakh people, including migrant workers in relief camps across Karnataka. Nearly 50,000 more migrants get food at camps and quarters set up by their employers. Another 3 lakh are fed in Bengaluru. Until now, over 2 lakh free meals were being served at Indira Canteens.
Deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan defended the move to stop the canteen scheme, saying the government had started providing ration kits to poor families and migrants would get food from the labour department.
“We are monitoring the situation and all care is being taken to address the problems of migrants and other needy people. While most of the camps run by the government and NGOs in districts deal with mostly migrants, in Bengaluru, food is also being distributed among members of economically backward groups,” said N Manjunath Prasad, principal secretary (revenue) and the nodal officer for migrants.
Activists welcomed the food camp initiative, but criticised the decision to charge the poor at Indira Canteens. A report on the condition of urban poor in Bengaluru by the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) highlights the grim situation: “Lockdown has meant that poor are paying more but are eating les Some families are on the verge of starvation.”