According to data shared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), it has distributed 1.84 crore food packets, a number that exceeds the city’s population of 1.25 crore, according to the 2011 census. The BMC has shared all of these food packets in 42 days between March 30 and May 10.
The demand for food packets has been on a rise since March 30, when the BMC first distributed 14,540 food packets in a day. According to the data, 28.64 lakh food packets were distributed in M-east (Govandi, Mankhurd) ward, followed by P-North (Malad) and H-East (Bandra east, Santa Cruz), where 21.07 lakh and 13.28 lakh food packets, respectively, were distributed. The officials further added that the civic body, with the help of NGOs and corporators, had earlier been distributed about 7 lakh food packets, twice every day, with servings of 300 grams each of khichadi, pulav and biriyani.
Akhtar Qureshi, corporator from Govandi speaking to the media stated, “In Govandi and Mankhurd, where the majority of people live in slums, the demand for food packets has increased. In Govandi slums, most of them are auto and taxi drivers, daily wagers like plumbers, labourers…many people are demanding food. After working for over 12 hours in a day, we still get complaints from people that they have not received food,” With the majority of the population living in these places staying in slums, living in cramped up spaces with little or no savings, having suffered economic shutdown as a consequence of the lockdown, these food packets have proved to be vital for these people during this period.
The data shared by the civic body shows that about 40 per cent of food packets were distributed in western suburbs, 31.58 per cent in eastern suburbs and 28.49 per cent in the island city. Officials said the spike in demand of food packets was observed after the first lockdown was extended from April 15.
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