This Surat man buys 150 kg vegetables, 500 kg rice to feed 12,000 people twice a day

Jignesh Gandhi has so far spent Rs 36 lakh on the initiative. Rest of the funds have come through his own non-profit called Alliance Club of Surat "Hope".

Jignesh Gandhi distributing food at one of the localities in Surat | ThePrint Photo | Soniya Agrawal

Surat, Gujarat: Jignesh Gandhi, a Surat-based entrepreneur, has been starting his days at 6 am every day, ever since a nationwide lockdown was announced on 24 March.

In the last 46 days, Gandhi has been providing two meals for 12,000 people daily in some of Surat’s most impoverished neighbourhoods.

A social worker and owner of a textile machinery trading business, Gandhi’s day starts with a visit to the local mandi where he buys over 150 kg of vegetables before visiting the godowns to purchase around 500 kg of dal and rice. He delivers these items to each of the six spots where food is prepared and also decides the menu every day.

“I know the feeling of sleeping on an empty stomach. I can’t bear to see people suffer because of hunger,” 45-year-old Gandhi told ThePrint. He said he had to quit studies and start working when he was only 16 to make ends meet for his family.

Gandhi has so far spent Rs 36 lakh on the initiative. Rest of the funds have come through his own non-profit called Alliance Club of Surat “Hope”. He said he hasn’t received help from the government or any private venture.

Food being distributed at Jagadiya Chokdi locality of Surat | ThePrint Photo | Soniya Agrawal

The businessman first distributed 1,000 meals a day, but soon expanded his initiative  when he realised that there were more people going hungry every night.

Gandhi’s focus is to provide meals for daily wage workers — rickshaw pullers, construction workers, masons and carpenters — who depend on their everyday earnings to feed their families.

“Other workers in textile or diamond factories have their owners providing them with food. But the daily wage workers have no money or support,” said Gandhi, who found six pockets across the city where many daily wagers live.

“People have very simple demands — either feed them or let them go,” said Gandhi. He recalled one particular day when he couldn’t come to distribute food due to restrictions and a large group of residents came out on the streets in protest. He has not faced any difficulty since then.

Gandhi said it costs about Rs 12,000 to Rs 13,000 to buy supplies for 12,000 meals twice a day. The costs have been kept low with the cooking and distribution done by local volunteers. Women, who send chapatis to the kitchens, are given 1 kg of flour every day.

He also said the Surat Municipal Corporation had stopped providing meals after the second lockdown was imposed on 14 April.

ThePrint made repeated attempts to reach the Surat Municipal Corporation through phone and messages, but there was no response until the time of publishing this report.

‘Didn’t know how to cook earlier, now we feed 1,000’ 

Gandhi’s initiative has been possible because of the support he has received from local volunteers and well-wishers.

At the EWS Awas in Ugat, a group of 20 youngsters, who are part of a group called ‘Dosti’, have been taking care of cooking and distributing food in the complex.

Vicky Rathod, who oversees the operations of this group, told ThePrint the men didn’t know how to cook when they first started helping Gandhi. Now, they are making meals for 1,000 people every day.

“We had first asked some of the local women for help and then learnt by trial and error. We knew the women couldn’t come here every day, so we decided to cook ourselves,” he said.

Rathod, however, contends that the toughest part isn’t cooking but doing the dishes.

Vicky Rathod making food to be distributed to workers | ThePrint Photo | Soniya Agrawal

At the EWS Awas of Jagadiya Chokdi in Palanpur, another group of volunteers were seen bringing potato curry and chapatis on hand carts.

Gandhi, who was present there, said, “We want to maintain social distancing. So we go to their neighbourhoods and the people line up with adequate distance from each other and fill their plates with food.”

Several daily wage earners, such as autorickshaw drivers, domestic helps, welders and painters live at the EWS Awas in Jagadiya Chokdi. Each of the houses here have at least five-six members and in many of them there has been no earning for the past 46 days.

Located in the farthest part of the Surat Municipal Corporation, residents of this colony also alleged that the area has always remained neglected. No corporator or their MLA has visited them since the pandemic started, they said.

“There are people here who do not even have bigger plates to carry food. How did the government expect them to survive the lockdown?” Piyush Mistry, a volunteer who overlooks the operation at Palanpur, told ThePrint.

Volunteers carrying vessels of food for workers | ThePrint Photo | Soniya Agrawal

‘These meals saving us every day’

For the daily wagers who have been out of jobs ever since the lockdown was announced, Gandhi’s initiative has been a life-saver.

“I used to earn Rs 500 to Rs 600 every day. We used to buy groceries for a week or two. Within days of the lockdown, we ran out of money,” said Anil, a rickshaw driver.

The two meals he gets every day help his four-member family survive. “There has been no other help from the government. All we got are coupons for ration but not actual ration.”

Despite their livelihoods coming to a standstill, many of these daily wagers said they had to pay a house rent of Rs 2,500 along with electricity charges.

“No one has bothered to ask how we were surviving. The meals have been a source of respite,” said Bhagwanta Ben, who lives in the EWS Awas at Ugat.

Originally from Uttar Pradesh, she has been a resident of Surat for the past 15 years. Bhagwanta Ben said she wanted to go back to UP but didn’t have enough money to buy tickets for her five family members.

“We have never seen such days before,” she said, adding that they barely have Rs 500 to get by. “We are all sitting at home wondering how long we will have to endure this.”

For Gandhi, it is stories like these and the plight of people that has pushed him to do more. “I see tears in their eyes when they thank me and I know I can’t stop. I could do this only with the support of my family who I have not been able to give time for the last one and half months,” he said, as his 11-year-old daughter called out to him, asking to come home.