Coronavirus Lockdown: Odisha To Provide Cooked Meals To Homeless In Urban Areas

Bhubaneswar: Taking note of the problems being faced by people in view of the coronavirus lockdown, Odisha government has decided to provide cooked meals to destitute and homeless in urban areas of the State.

In a letter to all district Collectors, Housing and Urban Development Department has asked senior administrative officials to provide cooked meals, dry and packaged food to the destitute, homeless, beggars and people without food.

"Taking into consideration the scenario in the urban space, it has been decided to provide hot cooked meals/dry/packaged food to the urban homeless during day and night time free of cost," said Sangramjit Nayak, deputy secretary to the government of Odisha.

It is pertinent to mention here that a complete lockdown is now in force in the entire country in view of the coronavirus outbreak in the world. The urban homeless are facing numerous problems in arranging food and hence the State government has decided to provide cooked meals to the people in distress.

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Funds required for this purpose will be met out of the Red Cross Fund available in respective districts, as per the official notification issued by the H&UD Department.

Apart from the homeless, Odisha government has also arranged food and shelter for around 5,547 migrant workers from other States who are stranded in Odisha in the wake of the nationwide lockdown.

Food and shelter have been ensured for the migrant workers stranded in Odisha at 36 camps across the State. Most of the workers hail from States like Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala, Telengana, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh.

On the other hand, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday urged all the Chief Ministers to provide required food, medicines etc. to the people from Odisha who are stranded in other states. He also requested all Odia Associations in these states to come forward to help such people.

Besides, the the Chief Minister assured reimbursement of the costs from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.

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(With Agency Inputs)