Tirupati: TTD canteen workers strive hard to feed 1.2 L destitutes

Tirupati: Thanks to the world famous Hindu religious organisation Tirumala Tirupati Devesthanams, on behalf of Lord Venkateswara Swamy, TTD officials and its workers are continuously sweating for feeding thousands of poor migrant labour and destitute in Tirupati city during lockdown days.

They have been saving hundreds of lives from starvation deaths by feeding food every day for the last two weeks. This process will be continued till the completion of nationwide shutdown on April 14.

It may be noted that TTD has been freely distributing more than 1.20 lakh food packets daily to hungry people at afternoon and night. This is not an easy task, generally making of food in large quantity is a Herculean task. TTD canteen workers like cooks and helpers have been doing this tough job with dedication.

According to information, every day the cooking process will be started at 5 in the morning at Srinivasam and Tiruchanur Annadanam canteens of TTD.

Here around 450 cooks and helpers, packers as well as volunteers were involved in food preparation work. Everyday morning and evening in each shift 10 cooks and 200 above helpers, cleaners, vegetable cutters are sweating continuously from morning early hours to till the evening to feed the hungry people who suffering with nationwide lockdown in view of coronavirus outbreak. And also on duty staff like municipal corporation, hospitals staff, police and revenue officials are also benefitting by the TTD food supply.

For this herculean task, TTD higher officials have been supporting its workers in the form of arranging rice, vegetables, curd, oil and other groceries uninterruptedly.

Deputy EO K Nagaraja and Catering Officer G L N Sastry are supervising this gigantic work every day and coordinating with Municipal and Revenue department officers for food distribution. From outside, Tirupati MLA Bhuman Karunakar Reddy and his son Abhinaya Reddy are also involving the food serving activity along with canteen workers frequently. In this regard, canteen employees and workers leader Pujari Rathana Prabhakar said that "Our cooks and workers without rest continuously working for hungry people every day during lockdown days. With taking of prior precautions by wearing masks and hand gloves our canteen cooks are making food in hygienic conditions."