The ongoing lockdown to check coronavirus spread has created a lot of hardship to the poor people living in slums and informal settlements in Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) area.
Among them, the domestic workers, rickshaw pullers, construction workers, stranded migrants, beggers, leprosy patients and the homeless have lost their daily wage and livelihood due to the Janata curfew and subsequent lockdown.
To mitigate the hardship, the Youth for Social Development (YSD) has identified many poor people with the help of BeMC and Ganjam district administration.
With the support from the Oxfam-India, the YSD has targeted to feed 550 families slums and started distribution of dry foods to each family for a month's need.
Each food basket includes 25 kgs of rice, 3 kgs pulse, 1 litre oil, 2 kg soya bean, spices and 1kg salt. Nearly 200 families in slums have received the packets.
Many volunteers have been deployed in those areas for creating awareness among the community on preventive measures like social distancing, frequent hand washing, and the need for staying at home to mitigate COVID-19.
The YSD has targeted to feed more than 3,000 distress families across 3 blocks in the district. The staff and the volunteers of YSD have been specially trained to remain safe from the virus.