Nagpur:- A Foods and Drug Administration (FDA) team landed on Sunday to inspect some community kitchens but returned without taking any punitive action after finding that they were working in collaboration with Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and serving food daily to around 50,000 beggars and stranded men. There was some friction apparently as the FDA team reached for inspection.
NMC sources told, “FDA teams have entered a few community kitchens and have demanded permission. NGOs and social organizations in association with NMC have developed some community kitchens to serve the poor during lockdown. Additional municipal commissioner Ram Joshi talked to officials from the FDA and recommended that no action be taken. The FDA teams later checked the kitchens, and received some instructions, “sources said.
FDA officials told, “Community kitchens were led by the teams on preserving hygiene and sanitation. This was simply a routine examination. After the lockout, NMC teams and NGOs led by municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe and deputy commissioner Milind Meshram have distributed food to 12.25 lakh beggars, workers staying in shelters, homeless people and students, as they did on Sunday. Food is distributed to 49.952 people every day. Also food grains have been supplied to 6,638 students with other important items as of now. The baby food was distributed to 72 families.
Food is cooked in 26 community kitchens, some of which have already been approved, and others have been temporarily built in the city after lockdown.
NMC officials said, “We and NGO members take the utmost care in preparing, conveying and distributing milk. Proper social distancing norms are also being followed.
