19 Indira canteens in Bengaluru to serve free food for poor

Bengaluru: Keeping in mind the interest of the labourers, vendors, homeless and the ones who run essential services, BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) which had shut all its canteens will run 19 Indira canteens in the city.

All these canteens will follow social distancing while serving food and they will give free food 3 times a day. Officials made this decision as many people, especially the homeless and labourers who run essential services are finding it difficult to feed themselves as there are no hotels or canteens. Of the 191 Indira canteens, BBMP officials claim that everyday nearly 1.7 lakh meals are being served to the poor and homeless.

The canteen will run from 7.30 am till 10 am serving breakfast, lunch will be served from 12 noon till 3pm and the dinner will start from 7.30 pm and close by 9pm.

Officials of the BBMP have been asked by the health department to keep soaps and sanitisers for the visitors. Every visitor should wash their hands with soap before and after food. Also they have asked the food caterers to wear head cap, gloves and mask while handling food.

One metre gap should be maintained between each customer and they should cover their nose and mouth with masks or clean cloth and the one who handles the coupon counter is asked to ensure this, the BBMP official said and added that they have decided to run selected canteens based on the demand.

The 19 canteens which will function are located in BBMP wards- Radhakrisna temple, Shivajinagar, Kamanahalli, Konena Agrahara, Vanarpete, Dattatreya temple, Nandini layout, Hanumanthnagar, Dharmarayaswamy temple, Deepanjalinagar, K R Puram, Doddanekundi, Bagalagunte, Ullalu, J P Park, Kuvempunagar, Attur, Gottigere and Bomanahalli.