The Pune-based Finolex Industries Ltd and Mukul Madhav Foundation (MMF) have joined hands with internationally-acclaimed chef Vikas Khanna and Feed India Initiative to help out the boatmen of Aasi Ghat in Varanasi during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.
The economic hardship induced by the lockdown has left the boatmen living in Aasi Ghat with no source of income. Their misery has been compounded with the onset of monsoon as they cannot venture into the Ganga.
The timely intervention of the Mukul Madhav Foundation and Finolex Industries to provide them with grocery kits helped them overcome a humanitarian crisis.
For those living on the banks of the Aasi Ghat, tourism is the mainstay and the lockdown robbed them of their livelihood as they were not allowed to venture into the river at a time when it’s their main season, before the onset of monsoon.
The Foundation stepped forward to support not only 700 boatman families but also widows, transgender and physically challenged who have been left helpless during the crisis.
A cumulative of 2,000 grocery kits were distributed in the presence of Nikhil Zanvar Mushtaque Ali, former Indian Football team captain Lalit Upadhyay, Indian Men's Hockey team player Vinod Singh, Director of Sheat Engineering College, a press statement said.
Over the last four months, FIL and MMF have been providing grocery kits to daily wage workers, slum dwellers, rag pickers, migrants, transgender communities, sex workers primarily in Maharashtra.
MMF had also assisted those affected in West Bengal by the Amphan Cyclone. The Foundation claims to have helped a total of 80,000 people so far.