Sunday turned even sunnier for Mohammad Mushtaq, a rickshaw puller, who visited an ATM for the first time in his life! Still far from flashing any plastic card the poor man got big meal packet free of cost over there.
Coming as blessing for him and thousands others often in search of a decent meal whole day, the Food ATM is a reality offering hygienic and tasty eatables arriving right from plush, high-end eateries of Ranchi.
Considering, ‘Right to food’ and in a bid to make a difference in the lives of people who often struggles to meet two ends the ATM of a different kind got opened near Hotel Konark at Station Road. The community fridge installed to store the food will be refilled at a regular interval of one hour to cater to the requirement of underprivileged people. Food stuffs kept in Food ATM are there to be taken away by any needy person free of cost.
The idea, to take into account the requirement of poor and also to develop a sense of responsibility among the affluent classes, is the brainchild of ADG (Special Branch) Rezi Dungdung. The senior IPS officer along with his some other colleagues and civil society members firmly believe that expansion of the noble effort will be helpful in not merely satisfying the appetite of those going hungry to their beds but in also creating awareness regarding wastage of food.
“It is harsh reality that today no one seems concerned about the wastage of food. Our venture will sensitise city residents and sooner or later, people will join our mission that ultimately aims to feed poor rather with the food which most of us often throw away without even thinking about the poor at all,” said Dungdung.
Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also expressed his concern on food wastage and called on the nation to fight against this menace, as it was a social evil while addressing the nation in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio programme.
Moreover the team of likeminded people had a big question about supply of quality of food and maintenance of fridge that will eventually script the success of this project. They first went on bringing hoteliers on board to contribute with unconsumed food with their restaurants and later associated some socialites to manage the fridge and distribution of food among the needy.
According to the plan as many as 13 hotels of the city have been lined up with the project to restock the fridge with leftover food items as per their time slot assigned to them. Some of the major contributors to the community bridge are big names like Hotel Amrit, Hotel Embassy, Kwality Inns, Capital Residency, Punjabi Dhaba, Hotel Accord, Chennai Kitchen, Dosa Plaza, Moreish Bakery.
Food items will be kept here between 10 AM to 10 PM. Soon few more community fridges will be decked up near Milan Palace, PP Compound, Kanke Road. Owner of Hotel Konark, Ranjit Singh cited that the leftover food that is generally discarded by the customers will be wrapped in aluminum foils or in small thin packets neatly and on a daily basis, any person associated with hotel will deliver the food packets in the scheduled time to ATM.
“As far as, its security is concerned, the guard deployed at the hotel premises will keep a tab on the activities of people. Moreover, it is an attempt to manage the discarded items and people should understand that it is for the one who needs it. Considering the roster plan, the schedule has been designed in such way that there is no chance of chaos,” said member of Jharkhand Citizen Social Security Protection Group Atul Gera.