Kochi: Community kitchens in the state are being shut down for defying assistance by the government. Due to this thousands of people are affected amid lockdown. There are no more than half of the community kitchens from today that were functioning under local bodies.
The local bodies are facing liabilities upto lakh of rupees after operating community kitchens that has now led to the closure of the programme. The state government has not announced any special financial assistance for community kitchens. With the financial support of institutions and individuals, hundreds of community kitchens were operational till yesterday.
It costs around Rs 50,000 to run a community kitchen a day. Along with this, there has been a failure of some local bodies in the disbursement of local funds. The ruling Congress councillors of the Kochi Municipality itself has alleged that the funds are not being alloted thoroughly.
Many of the food supplies run by local organizations and groups have been ceased for economic reasons. Stranded people in different part of the state and migrant workers relied upon community kitchens due to lockdown.
Chief Minister had assured that the functioning of community kitchens would not be interrupted anywhere in the state. A few days ago, the number and quantity of food served by community kitchens was reduced to an extent. The reason being that the government has not announced any financial assistance, despite the local government noting in writing that the food supply could not be borne by the financial burden.
