A bunch of youth have pooled their resources and set up a soup kitchen at Mehdipatnam for people affected by demonetisation. “I have a restaurant at Rethi Bowli. A few days ago, I saw a number of young people lounging near the function hall and when I spoke to them, they told me that they didn’t have food. I decided to do something and this is a result of that,” says Syed Naseer, who is the brain behind the soup kitchen.
The residents of Mehdipatnam were greeted with this message near pillar no 47 of PVNR Expressway: Muslim youths of Hyderabad; Free Food to All Indians Effected (affected)due to Demonetisation. “We started serving food from November 21 and every day, we start at 2 p.m. and the food distribution goes on till evening when we run out of food. A number of people have begun waiting for the food to be served,” informs Mr. Naseer. The food is simple Hyderabadi fare of khatti dal (a sour and spicy lentil preparation) and rice. Rethi Bowli, Attapur, Mehdipatnam and Tolichowki areas have a huge migrant population who work in the function halls.
“Many workers in the nearby adda , auto-rickshaw drivers and cab drivers had only Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes, and some of them were hungry, so we decided to pool our resources and buy cooking equipment for this effort. The bawarchi (cook) is not charging anything. We are getting rice for the cost price and we are cooking 100 kilos every day,” says Akram, who is a manager at a function hall and is part of the effort.
The circle of friends who have come together is limited to about 30 persons and are generating resources among themselves, networking through a Whatsapp group ‘Dildar Hyderabad’.
“When the judges of the Supreme Court said that food riots can break out, I became aware of the situation we are in. And anything can happen when so many people are suddenly rendered jobless and helpless. The soup kitchen is our group’s humble effort to ensure that we feed at least a few people and they are not led astray,” says Mr. Naseer.
