GUNTUR: In first-of-its-kind, Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) has started YSR Cloth Bank to help the poor under the Wall of Kindness Concept near e-bus bay center at Lakshmipuram in the city. The aim of this cloth bank is not only to provide clothes to the needy free of cost but also for the cleanliness of the city.
GMC chief Kirthi Chekuri during her outdoor inspections observed that many kinds of clothes were disposed on roads, affecting the sewer system and sanitation in the city. To stop this, she came up with this innovative idea after discussing with the officials.
People who have old clothes that are not being used can bring them to the cloth bank and hand them over to the staff personnel, who will be available in the cloth bank from 8 am to 8 pm every day. These clothes will be given to the roadside beggars and destitute.
She along with Mayor Kavati Manohar Naidu inaugurated the cloth bank earlier this week. On this occasion, he urged the people to hand over their reserve clothes to this bank without throwing them out as needy people can take those clothes from the cloth bank.
Earlier, in a similar way, GMC has set up six food banks at crowded places across the city including APRTC bus terminal, Guntur Railway Station, Guntur Government General Hospital, Gandhi Park, Lodge Center and Chuttugunta Center.
With the motto of ‘Save food, Save lives’, GMC planned to distribute surplus food left at wedding events, parties and functions to the needy people, instead of wasting the food. This initiative received great applause from the public.
Later, the officials also set up refrigerators worth `20 lakh to store the food at these food banks. Though it got a good response initially, due to various reasons and lack of coordination, the food banks were not working now.