NEW DELHI: The first day of complete lockdown in the city has put many working women, especially a large number of medical staff and nurses living in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) hostel, in a spot of bother. With unpalatable food being served and unhygienic staying conditions, many battling the virus outbreak on the frontline have been left helpless.
The hostellers on Wednesday took to social media to voice their concerns to various senior leaders.
Residents of Indira Niketan Working Girls Hostel said that their hostel houses around 250 girls, out of which about 80 are nurses and medical staffs working with the AIIMS and Safdurjung Hospital.
“The food quality has really gone down since the lockdown was imposed. Some of us found cockroaches in our food. No one is cleaning the place up and neither is the garbage being disposed of. The mess contractor said that in the near future, they might stop serving food altogether. We have no ration left,” said Jyoti, a resident of the hostel who works for a private firm.
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"It's day one of the lockdown and the quality of the food being served has dropped dramatically. After working all day at the hospital, one cannot sleep with an empty stomach. They stopped supplying breakfast as well," said another resident of the hostel who works as a nurse at AIIMS.
Residents of other NDMC working-girls hostels such as Akanksha and Swati said that rumours of food supply falling short are baseless and creating unwanted panic.
"We are getting all our meals on time. The housekeeping staff is doing its bit in keeping the mess clean and everything is running smoothly as usual," said Shweta, a resident of Akanksha Hostel.“As per information from the department concerned, there was some issue regarding the shortage of supply of certain raw materials and gas which have been resolved. The condition is being monitored on a daily basis," said an NDMC official.
“The mess workers who went to seek curfew passes were not provided the passes by Delhi Police due to which there was a delay in getting essential items such as raw materials," added the official.