Individuals and institutions are providing food to those who live on the street and offering infrastructure to the state government to combat the coronavirus.
The Telegraph lists a few of those who have come forward in this hour of crisis.
Monks in service
Senior monks of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission gave essential items to the poor at Mayer Bari in Bagbazar on Saturday. They distributed packets containing rice, pulses, salt, cooking oil and biscuits.
Mayer Bari holds a special significance in the order because Sarada Devi lived in a two-storey house off Bagbazar Street between 1909 and 1920.
Sri Sri Ma remains a supreme force in the order as Sri Ramakrishna’s wife and this service had to have Mayer Bari as a centre where food would be distributed, according to senior monks.
Besides Bagbazar, similar packets were distributed at Saradapith in Belur and Jhargram.
Men and women stood in a long queue outside Mayer Bari to collect the packets. Some of them placed their bags in the queue and took shelter in the shade as monks went about the distribution work from Ma Sarada Swanirvar Kendra adjoining Mayer Bari on Pran Krishna Mukherjee Road.
Adamas offers campus
Adamas University has offered part of its 120-acre campus in Barasat to the state government to set up a temporary hospital to treat coronavirus patients.
The authorities said the university could provide facilities for 1,000 beds and 600 nurses. They said 30 doctors and their families could stay on the campus.
“Our hostel is vacant and it can be used to accommodate nurses. We have classrooms that can be used as isolation units. If the number of people affected go up, space can become a constraint,” said Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury, pro-vice-chancellor of the university.
Chancellor Samit Ray said that the university had donated Rs 10 lakh to the chief minister’s relief fund. “The problem is so critical that people have to come forward... we have an infrastructure that can be used to fight this together,” said Ray.
Food being prepared for distribution to the poor Telegraph picture
Individuals & groups
Volunteers in mobile vans are going around the city to provide those living on streets and in temporary shelters with food. IHA Foundation and Gurdwara Behala have come together to organise this during the lockdown. Four mobile vans of the Kolkata Response Group, a security agency, are going around the city providing food to the poor.
“We have created a helpline number, 1800 313 8100, for the assistance of people on the road. The needy are being provided with food because we understand that just as social distancing is essential we cannot distance ourselves from the hungry,” said Satnam Singh Ahluwalia, chairman of the IHA Foundation and general secretary of Gurdwara Behala.
A luxury resort
The Ffort Raichak resort has offered 30 bungalows to the state government to be used as a quarantine/isolation/ medical facility.
Each bungalow has a bedroom, a drawing and living room. The resort has offered the suites and not rooms because the rooms are close to each other.
“In order to strengthen the state's preparedness in coping with the rising demand for medical infrastructure, we are extending our facility to the state government,” said Harshavardhan Neotia, chairman, Ambuja Neotia.
The sub-divisional officer of Diamond Harbour visited the campus, which can be used as and when the need arises, said an official of the Ffort Raichak, a resort of the Ambuja Neotia Group.
“We have kept the place ready... maintenance, food and housekeeping will be arranged by us and the medical facility by the government,” said the official.
