Tuticorin youths feed more than 300 people daily amid lockdown

MADURAI: From truck drivers carrying essential commodities to homeless people, a group of 20 youths from Sinthalakarai village has been feeding more than 300 people every day over the last two weeks by standing and offering food packets at the Madurai-Tuticorin national highway near Ettayapuram in Tuticorin district.
They prepare two varieties of rice every day and give the beneficiary the privilege to choose.
“Our village is more than 90 km from Madurai city and 60 km from Tuticorin city. Places like Tiruchendur are over 90 km from our village. Due to the lockdown, hotels are closed and people are struggling to get food. So we decided to play a small role in feeding them,” said K Jeya Kannan, 38, who is coordinating the initiative.
Most of the youth are college students or those who graduated and are searching for a job. Those who are employed bought a few bags of rice while those unemployed collected rice from their homes to prepare variety rice for lunch.
The Ettayapuram Police has given the men a pass to buy fresh vegetables from the market every morning and at times they even assist the boys in distributing food packets. Their daily expense is lesser than Rs 3,000.
Food is prepared at the hotel owned by Kannan’s uncle Raja at Sinthalakarai on the highway and is closed now due to the lockdown. Around 320 to 340 packets are prepared almost everyday and around 250 packets are distributed on the highway from 12 noon to 2 pm.
Meanwhile, the rest of the packets are taken to Ettayapuram to feed the people with learning difficulties and other homeless people.
Kannan said that they intend to do so till the lockdown eases and hotels reopen.