COVID-19 lockdown: Mathura admin launches food scheme for people stranded in the district

The administration in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district has launched a scheme to provide food to the people who are stranded due to the country-wide lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus, officials said.

“The facility would be available for the people banking on charity kitchens as well as stranded people of other districts,” said Mathura DM Sarvagya Ram Mishra.

Under the scheme, food will be provided to people who depend on community kitchens for their daily meals like daily wagers, widows and people from other districts stranded in Mathura, the officials said. Secretary Mathura Vrindaban Development Authority Ishwar Chand has been made the nodal officer for the scheme in urban areas, while district's panchayati raj officer has been made the nodal officer for rural areas, the DM said.

According to Mishra, a record of beneficiaries of the scheme will be maintained for transparency in distribution and social workers in the area will volunteer to distribute the food packets. Meanwhile, six teams have been formed to keep a check on black marketing and hoarding of essential commodities, he said. Officers have also been asked to chalk out and implement a plan for home delivery of essential commodities, Mishra said.