Campaign run in collaboration with Bajaj Group in lock down
Pune, May 15, 2020 : As citizens have been struggling to eke out a living or even eat proper meals due to the nation-wide lockdown since past 50 days, ISKCON’s Annamrita Foundation and Bajaj Group’s ‘Jankedevi Bajaj Gram Vikas Sanstha in Pune have extended a helping hand by providing food to 90 thousand people everyday in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad area.
With the help of Shri Mukund Bhavan Trust of Shri Lohiya Parivar, the Foundation, so far has provided help to over 32 lakh people in Pune since the start of the lockdown on March 24.
“due to the lockdown situation considering the plight of the poor , ISKCON’s Founder, Acharya A. C. Bhaktivedanta, Swami Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON’s Annamrita Foundation, Pimpri have been arranging meals for the poor and needy labourers at about 90 places in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune.
The Foundation has been distributing ‘khichdi pulao’ or ‘masale bhaat’ containing 400 grams of calories to about 90,000 citizens every day. So far at least 32 lakh citizens have been provided with food during the lockdown,” said Sanjay Bhosale, President, ISKCON’s Annamrita.
Bhosale said that initially, the mid-day meal was cooked at ISO certified Twenty One Thousand Kitchen at Pimpri Chinchwad with the help of ISKCON Annamrita but as the demand increased, the Foundation started cooking meals in other three places including ISKCON Katraj Kondhwa Road, Bindra Kitchen and Swargate, where 80 employees following health care and social distancing rules are engaged from morning 4 AM.
Along with the food arrangement, the Foundation has also arranged for daily fodder for stray cows in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune along with distribution of food grains to about 200 Gurus in closed temples.
Other initiatives undertaken by the Foundation includes direct purchase of vegetables required for mid-day meal from farmers, distribution of about 2 lakh homeopathic medicines with the help of The Prana Homoeopathic Yoga Center and distribution of 1001 Bhagavad Geeta texts on the occasion of World Book Day on behalf of Deepak Paigude, Mitra Parivar and Lokseva Foundation.
The foundation has also planned distribution of groceries to about 50 photographers working for city-based newspapers.
For the schemes, the Foundation has received valuable financial support from organizations including Bajaj Alliance of Bajaj Group and Janakidevi Bajaj Gram Vikas Sanstha, Shri Mukund Bhavan Trust of Shri Aditya Purushottam Lohiya Parivar, Mukul Madhav Foundation, Trident International, Syska, GIC and Kirloskar Brothers Ltd.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Janseva Foundation, Vande Mataram Sanghatana, Bajrang Dal, Ambedkar Phule Shahu Samata Manch and many Police personnel have also helped in the distribution of food.
Kishore Chavan, Nitin Watkar and Sridevi of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Kunal Sathe, President of Bajrang Dal, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Dr. Vinod Shah, Head of Janseva Foundation and Vitthal Gaikwad of Samata Manch has been involved with the social work. Sanjay Bhosale, President of ISKCON Annamrita Foundation, Shwet Devdas, Dr. Janardhan Chitode, Natwar Das, Sitapati Das, Vishwanath Kripa Das, Bhakti Bhosale and Anant Mangrule have been supervising the entire management of the kitchen.
The Annamrita Foundation has catered to around 2 Crore people across India till date. ISKCON's senior ascetic, Parampujya Radhanath Swami Maharaj and Parampujya Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj have been the inspiration behind this project. Kushal Desai, Chairman, Annamrita Foundation, India, Radhakrishna Prabhu of ISKCON Pune and Sanjay Bhosale, provided guidance for the scheme.
Ajit Pawar, Additional Commissioner of Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Tushar Hinge, Deputy Mayor and Madhav Jagtap, Joint Commissioner, PMC have also assisted in this work along with distribution of masks and sanitizers.
Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, Leader of Opposition, Vinayak Deshpande, National Minister, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Girish Bapat, Pune city MP and MLA Chandrakant Patil have also taken note of the initiatives.
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