CHENNAI: After a gurudwara in New York hit the headlines for serving free meals three times a day to those displaced during the COVID-19 crisis, it's the turn of Guru Nanak College in Velachery to open its doors to migrant workers from across the country stranded in Chennai.
While the college currently houses 350 people brought in by the Greater Chennai Corporation, it can host a maximum of 1,000 people in the coming days, say college authorities. On Monday evening, poori, pulav and an aloo sabzi were on the dinner menu and on Tuesday it was chapati, rice and sambar.
"We want to provide three meals for those who have nowhere else to go. We have reassigned most of our classrooms to host migrant workers and homeless people who have sought help from the government," said Manjit Singh Nayyar, General Secretary and Correspondent of Guru Nanak Educational Society. He is also the Assistant Commandant General for the Home Guards.
He said that ever since the college agreed to provide a dwelling for migrant workers, he has received overwhelming help and support from various organisation and even from people he'd never met.
"Each morning at 7 am, we give tea and two buns from Modern Bakery to everyone, at 11:30 am, we provide a lunch with rice, dal and sabzi and we provide dinner at 6:30 pm," he said, adding that volunteers, corporation officials and police officers posted at the site eat the same food given to the migrant workers.
In order to maintain social distancing, only 15 people occupy a classroom that can hold 70-80 students. The migrant workers sleep on the classroom benches. The residents are allowed to move around the garden and the terrace, but not gather in large numbers.
"We have also prepared a separate block for women and pilgrims who were stranded at the Chennai Central station to stay," said Nayyar adding that the volunteers are also contemplating ways to keep the residents entertained.
Chennai Corporation's sanitary workers have been keeping the space hygienic. "The migrant workers can stay here for as long as the lockdown is in place. We will always be able to clean the place and keep it ready before students come back for the next academic year," he said.