Pune: NIBM Road residents take lead to feed people in need

By: Anjali Jhangiani
PUNE: Murali Krishnan, a 59-year-old resident of the Raheja Vistas housing society, has always been interested in volunteering. Shortly after the Covid-19 lockdown was enforced, he, along with a few friends, immediately set out to help the community around their housing society.
Krishan said, “When the pandemic broke out in March, we started distributing packets of food among migrant workers, the help from personnel attached to the Kondhwa Police. Initially, our volunteers cooked and packed the food. But as the scale of the operation grew, we pooled in Rs 1 lakh and got a catering service to help us distribute the food. We distributed food in all the slums near the NIBM Road area.”
The process to feed scores took a lot of planning. Krishan said,”My wife and I started this initiative in our society, in which we would keep a box downstairs for everyone to put food in, including well-packed leftovers, fruits, biscuits and other packaged snacks. In the evenings, I would collect the box and distribute it. We also tried to lift the general mood by conducting a felicitation ceremony for frontline officers from the Kondhwa police station. On May 31, we invited them over to our society and we honoured them by cheering them on. We also distributed boxes of sweets. We have set aside funds for donation in case there’s a need.”
Many housing societies on NIBM Road payed a crucial role in ensuring the poor had supplies. A resident of Grafikon Paradise,Yogendra Kumar Gupta (61), said neighbours, along with the NIBM Residents’ Forum collected Rs1 lakh which was used to put together food packets.
“A few people from our society helped a lot. When the first lockdown was announced, after three to four days, we decided to do something for the poor. We bought 100 kg of rice, dal, oil and soap to distribute among those left without a source of income,” he said.
N Faizi (49) the Bhrama Exuberance housing society, said Covid-19 screening was essential for security guards, domestic workers, gardeners, delivery boys and so on. As the secretary of her society, along with some partners and sponsors, she went on to organise free health camps every 15 days.
“We also distributed ration packets to people in areas such as Meethanagar, Bhimnagar, Siddharthnagar and other neighbourhoods around Kondhwa,” she said.