Food hard to come by for poor, NGO tells BSY

BENGALURU: Food is hard to come by for the poor since the lockdown, stated a letter written by the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN) to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. Despite the economic relief package announced by the government, only a fraction of unorganised workers would benefit from it, the letter said. The amount is too little as many workers are already in debt. They are unable to buy food and ration, pay rent, electricity, water bills, purchase gas cylinders and medicines, it stated.

SWAN has been receiving distress calls from across Karnataka, especially Bengaluru. “The Karnataka High Court directed the government to provide 10 kg free ration to priority households (PHH), 10 kg at Rs 15 per kg for non-PHH, and supply dry ration kits sufficient for 21 days to the doorstep of identified individuals. Workers said they are able to access only 7 kg of rice per member, which after cleaning, dwindles to 5 kg. In the absence of regular income, this gets exhausted in three days. Further, 54 per cent did not possess ration cards,” wrote Rajendran Narayanan, Anindita Adhikari, Seema Mundoli and Anushka Kale on behalf of SWAN.

In some areas, Indira Canteens are far away from settlements. The staff at the canteens have to upload beneficiary name, mobile number and photograph with the distributed food packets on a BBMP app. This is leading to long queues and crowding around canteens causing health concerns. The ration card is needed for anyone needing more than three packets. This is exclusionary as many do not have ration cards.