Piping hot tea, steaming hot vegetable biryani, upma, pulihora, bread packets and milk packets; these and other daily necessities were served to the flood-affected people in Nizampet, Alwal and other areas of the city, as an informal network of benefactors swung into action on Saturday. Though everyone did not receive this help, those who did cannot forget it.
As images of flooded streets in Brahmanwadi and Mayuri Marg were broadcast on TV on September 21, Darshan Singh of Ameerpet Gurdwara swung into action. “We saw those images and we were prepared for such emergencies due to langar tradition and we cooked 100 kilos of vegetable biryani and rushed it there with 10 volunteers who supplied it to people living near Deonar School for the Blind,” said Mr. Singh.
On Saturday, volunteers of Ramakrishna Math reached out to rain-affected people in Naidu Nagar in Jubilee Hills. “The GHMC officials told us that the slum dwellers were not able to cook food and we cooked and served food for 100 families in that area. Tomorrow we are planning to distribute food in Begumpet and Alwal areas,” said S.B. Ram of the Math.
Sai Yadav and his friends from Warasiguda shared their phone numbers with GHMC officials. “For two days, we served 130 kilos of vegetable biryani and pulihora in Alwal, Kukatpally and Malkajgiri areas. About 40 youth from our area went to some of these affected areas and also handed over milk and bread packets,” said Mr. Yadav.
But the civil society response to the enormous amount of suffering in the city unleashed by the flood has been at best patchy. “It is mostly family and friends who are bringing relief. They are the ones who got tea, coffee and milk packets. They are the ones who brought us food,” said a resident of Dharani Nagar.
In Nizampet and Allwyn Colony, volunteers from Annapurna Trust, employees of CRI Pumps, Shubgruha Constructions and even actors in TV serials who pitched in with their mite.
Meanwhile, a free food distribution programme to cater to 10,000 people affected by the incessant rains has been launched by the Hare Krishna Movement.
The programme is being conducted in association with the Telangana government, GHMC, MEIL, and Aurobindho Pharma, a release from the movement said. Hot and nutritious meals are being provided to rain-affected citizens.
Poor people residing in low-lying areas are most affected, and they are in desperate need for basic necessities like food, drinking water, and medical relief, said the movement’s president Sri Satya Gaura Chandra Dasa.
He also appealed to people to come forward and assist in the programme.
