Hyderabad: Tellapur family feeding free nutritious food to 300 a day

Hyderabad: In an effort to give it back to society and encourage people to have nutritious food in the form of millets, a family from Tellapur village, in Sangareddy district, is feeding free nutritious food to about 300 persons a day.

A couple from Tellapur, Kolluru Sattaiah and Amrutamma, have started a novel initiative of encouraging the citizens to go for nutritious food, instead of junk food they consume these days.

"The idea came after our family thought that people in society should be explained the benefits of eating nutritious food, like millet, which is not only good in taste, but also boosts immunity, which has become an important topic of discussion, especially after the outbreak of the deadly Coronavirus.

Talking to The Hans India, Kolluru Bharat, son of Sattaiah and Amrutamma, said that they started the initiative of providing food to the poor in the name of 'Buvva Bandi' (food cart) in October 2021 with about 100 persons at Ambedkar statue at Tellapur. This was so popular that now about 300 people are eating nutritious food every day from 8.30 am to 10:30 am.

"We provide five types of millets, everyday one variety like Little Millet (Samalu), Kodo Millet (Arikelu), Foxtail Millet (Korralu), Green Millet (Andru korralu), Barnyard Millet (Udalu). We also provide Palak dal, Pachadi, Ganji everyday to the poor who cannot afford to get millets which are a costly affair now. Not only the poor, but also health-conscious people are coming from far away areas to eat," said Bharat.

Bharat said the food is very good for patients, especially to improve their metabolism. This food controls blood pressure and also addresses problems of sugar patients. "Many visitors gave feedback to us that they were feeling healthy now with this food. If you eat millet food of ours for at least 15 days your sugar levels also get controlled," said Bharat.

Bharat said they have been in service through their Anadha Ashram and trust 'Kullur Venkatamma Memorial Trust'. Bharat's family is involved in cultivation in Mahbubnagar and they bring their produce to Tellapur. With land prices booming in the area, they had earned some money through sale of their lands and decided to give it back to society. "Apart from our own cultivation, we also purchase millets from market to feed the poor with organic food. The satisfaction of feeding the needy comes as food gets exhausted within one or two hours, said Bharat.

Bharat said they have been providing food with 25 kg millets, which costs them Rs 4,000 a day. The family wishes to continue their service until they have resources.