A real estate company and an NGO have joined hands to deliver essential items to the elderly during the lockdown.

Senior citizens who live alone can call and place orders for grocery, vegetables, water to drink and medicines. All items will be delivered at their doorstep within 48 hours.

The service is at present available in Tollygunge, Ballygunge, Garia, Behala, Ruby and Salt Lake. It will be extended to New Alipore, Kankurgachhi and Shyambazar from Thursday.

Hello Beta is a non-profit initiative of NK Realtors and NGO Mukti, which works in education and healthcare.

“This facility is for elderly people living alone, and not with their children or younger members of the family. Many of us can go out and get our daily supplies, following the safety guidelines, but the elderly are finding it difficult to get their supplies and so this service is to help them,” said Biplab Kumar, vice-president, corporate communications, NK Realtors.

A team of 20 people are working for the delivery besides a team taking calls

Niranjan Mukherjee, 82, had to depend on neighbours or step out himself to get his supplies. “I did go out a couple of times before a neighbour offered to get me what I needed. I heard about Hello Beta from a relative and tried it. They delivered everything the next day,” he said.

The Salt Lake resident, who lives with his wife, had ordered milk, butter, potato, mustard oil, spices and puffed rice.

The service was launched on March 30 and we have already catered to 250 households, Kumar said. The items are usually procured locally.

A team of 20 people are working for the delivery besides a team taking calls.

“We have set a limit of Rs 3,000 and are not encouraging hoarding. The idea is to deliver things they need and we are not entertaining demands for unusually huge quantities. We don’t want the service to be misused,” said Kumar.

Senior citizens can call at 033 40401010 between 8am and 6pm. Delivery is free and the items can be paid for either in cash or digitally.