Western Railway and IRCTC are jointly providing their valuable services continuously to needy & helpless persons in nearby areas of various major railway stations in all 6 divisions of Western  Rly, during this toughest time of COVID 19 pandemic lockdown, since last 33 days from 29th March, 2020. Distribution of food packets is under way to the needy, poor and homeless persons, with the help of commercial staff /RPF and several NGOs. Community Bhojan are being prepared at the IRCTC's base kitchens at Mumbai Central & Ahmedabad  & being distributed to the most helpless persons in their darkest hour. This joint "Mission Food Distribution" has  successfully completed 33 days on 30th April, 2020 & during this period, more than 4.22 lakh needy persons have been benefittted through free meals.

     According to a press release, issued by Shri Ravinder Bhakar- Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Rly, total 13,595 food packets were distributed  in a single day over all 6 divisions of Western Rly, on 30th April, 2020 to various needy & helpless persons. These packets have been   comprising of lunch & dinner both. In this food distribution, maximum 7400 packets were provided by IRCTC from its base kitchens at Mumbai Central & Ahmedabad, while remaining food packets were arranged by WR's commercial department from other charitable sources. It's worth mentioning that during the period of 33 days, approximately 4.22 lakh  food packets have been distributed under Mission Food Distribution. Out of this, maximum share of 2.25 Lakh  food packets were prepared & distributed by West Zone of IRCTC through its base kitchens, while rest of the packets were distributed by Western Rly's commercial department with the help of other sources & NGOs.  IRCTC's  West Zone, on 30th April, 2020 provided 4400  and 3000 community Bhojans from its Mumbai Central and Ahmedabad base kitchens respectively. The  Commercial and RPF Departments of Western Railway, mainly contributed in distribution of these meals alongwith several NGOs. While delivering the food to needy persons, social distancing and hygiene aspects are being observed minutely by all concerned. On 30th April, 2020, in addition to IRCTC's community food, Mumbai Central division's commercial staff distributed 710  additional meal packets through various NGOs at different places over Mumbai Division, while in Ahmedabad division, 3425 food packets distributed other than IRCTC. Vadodara   division  also distributed 1510 food packets through Akshay Patra Foundation in Vadodara city. 250 food packets  distributed by Rly local staff and NGOs at Porbandar.  345  meal packets were distributed by Rajkot division at Jamnagar, Surendra Nagar, Wankaner and Hapa with the help of  Sai Seva Trust , Jalaram Seva Trust and Reliance Industries Ltd.   330 food packets were distributed at different stations over Ratlam division.  Jain Sangh of  Vapi distributed  25 food packets to housekeeping staff, parcel loaders and on duty staff at Vapi station. Yogada Satsanga Society of India provided 115 food packets, which were distributed to Jagjivan Ram Hospital patients , attendants and IOW &  Coaching depot staff of Mumbai Central. Vedanta Group provided   270 food packets, while ZRUCC member Shri Ketan Shah provided 100 and Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust  provided  75 food packets for distribution in Mumbai division. These  545 food packets were distributed to needy persons at Matunga Road and Charni Road stations  by Ticket checking staff of WR in co-ordination with BMC  officials.

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