Four trucks kickstart anti-hunger programme
A villager prepares roti (bread) in her mud house in the village Bhattian Jivery at Tharparkar June 25, 2008. Soaring food prices and shortages of staples mean about 77 million people of Pakistan's 160 million population are food insecure, a 28 percent increase over the past year, according to U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) estimates. The term food insecure means people are unable to get sufficient nutritious food to meet dietary needs. Picture taken June 25, 2008. To match feature PAKISTAN-HUNGER/ REUTERS/Athar Hussain (PAKISTAN) - RTX7TSP
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar inaugurated a Mobile Langar programme by cutting a ribbon and sent food trucks on four routes of Lahore on Sunday.
The Route-1 of Lahore is from Thokar Niaz Beg to Data Darbar which caters to Multan Chungi Mandi Stop, Chowk Yateem Khana and Choburji. Similarly, Route-2 includes Circular Road, Railway Station, Do Moria Pul, Badami Bagh Auto Parts Market, Masti Gate, General Bus Stand, Sabzi Mandi and Niazi Chowk. Route-3 will cover Ghari Shahoo, Co-op Store, Shalamar, Darogay Wala, and Shadipura, whereas, Route-4 has areas including Lakshmi Chowk, Mayo Hospital Chowk, Shah Aalam Market, Dalgaraan Chowk and Dehli Gate.
At least 10,000 lunch boxes will be distributed daily on the routes.
Moreover, two trucks will distribute 10,000 lunch boxes daily in main areas of Faisalabad.
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The chief minister said on the occasion feeding others is a Sunnah as well as the tradition of Punjab. He said that the Punjab government has initiated the programme by following PM Imran Khan’s “Koee Bhooka Na Soy” initiative.
Four trucks in Lahore and two in Faisalabad will provide lunch and supper respectfully to the destitute, especially labourers and passengers.
The chief minister said that hygienic and quality Iftar will also be offered to the people on the routes during Ramazan.
Usman Buzdar further stated that the service of "meals on wheels" will be started in other cities of Punjab as well. He said that in the second phase, mobile kitchen units will also be started where food will be cooked and distributed. ‘
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2021.