BHUBANESWAR: Aahar, the cheap meal scheme of the State Government, has failed people in their hour of need. While thousands of people living in the City’s slums have been rendered homeless after cyclone Fani and are starving for food, not a single Aahar centre has been made operational in the State Capital to ameliorate the sufferings of urban poor. The cheap meal scheme, that offers a meal (cooked rice and dal) at just `5, has been stopped at a time when the slum dwellers need it the most.
The Government has failed to run these centres since May 3, the day of the cyclone, though it has directed Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to set up free kitchens for Fani-affected people in the City.
The Capital has 11 Aahar centres some of which have been severely damaged in the cyclone. However, the Government has chose to shut down all the centres including the ones that have been spared by the devstating storm.
The Aahar centre on Capital Hospital premises, though not affected much in the cyclone, has been closed causing serious inconvenience to poor patients and their attendants who are coming for treatment from far flung areas everyday.
“The Aahar centre inside the hospital should have been made operational since a lot people who can’t afford hotel food are dependent on it,” said Raj Kishore Sutar, a painter who had come to the hospital to admit one of his relatives. “If the Government claims that it has restored power and water supply to the hospital, what is the problem in running the centre?” he asked.
Debraj Palai, a slum dweller in Nayapalli area, said, “Around 500 people were dependent on the local Aahar centre. Closure of the centre is causing a lot of inconvenience to them besides the cyclone-affected people of nearby slums who can’t even cook food in their damaged houses,” he said. The Nayapalli Aahar centre has also been untouched by Fani.
However, the Aahar centre at Rasulgarh has been completely damaged in the cyclone. Locals alleged that the structure could not survive the cyclone onslaught due to poor quality construction work. Had there been a cement roof, the centre wouldn’t have been damaged, they said.
A BMC official claimed that all Aahar centres in the City have been closed as the main kitchen of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, which supplies cooked food to these facilities, has sustained damage in the cyclone. He also admitted that water and electricity supply is yet to be restored in these Aahar centres and it may take another 15 days to restart the cheap meal scheme.
Locals, however, said alternative arrangements should be put in place at these centres immediately to provide subsidised meals to people who were dependent on the scheme.