Though the India V West Indies ODI match at Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium was marked for its low score, the day turned out to be a high scoring one for ‘Metro chappathis’.
The chappathis made by the inmates of jails sold like hot cakes during the match on Thursday.
Jail officials said over 50,000 chappathis were sold during the day, with large crowds thronging the stalls at the stadium to buy the chappathis prepared by inmates of Viyyur Central Jail and Kakkanad district jail. According to jail officials, chappathis and curry worth Rs 3.72 lakh were sold at the stadium on the match day.
“Around 50,000 chappathis and a similar number of curry packets were sold from the 10 stalls set up inside the stadium during the ODI. We have reaped big profits - more than half the amount obtained from the sale. We supplied chicken, egg, vegetable and tomato curries. We also sold buns, cakes and chips prepared at Viyyur Central Jail. As many as 8 kg of bun, cakes and chips were sold from each stall. The department had deputed 62 staff members for supplying the food products and several prisoners for preparing them,” an official of the Prison Department said.
M K Vinod Kumar, Superintendent of Viyyur Central Jail, Santhosh, welfare officer, T Sudheer, Superintendent of Kakkanad jail, and Thomas, welfare officer, headed the team of jail officials supplying the food items.
Even though the Department had planned to sell biriyani during the match, it did not materialise due to the dearth of staff.
A packet of five chappathis was sold at Rs 10, chicken curry at Rs 25 and vegetable, egg and tomato curries were sold at Rs 10.
“The sales would have crossed over Rs 5 lakh if 100 overs were played. Since the match ended by 8.30 pm, people rushed back home. The match would have ended only after 10 pm had a full-over game been played and more chappathis would have been sold.
We have decided to take such initiatives in future when big events are organised,” an official said.