Wednesday, 14 February 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Health minister Dhan Singh Rawat inaugurated the Food For Life initiative at Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) hospital on Tuesday. Free food will be provided to the attendants of the patients under the initiative taken up by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
Speaking on the occasion the minister said that the initiative highlights the commitment of ISKCON for its social responsibilities. Lauding the initiative the minister said that the government provides free food to the admitted patients but the attendants do not get this benefit. He said that now 800-1,000 attendants of patients will get free food. The minister said that an arrangement for providing one bigha of land at Government medical college Srinagar will be made for setting up a kitchen by the ISKCON. Similarly, the issue of providing space in the GDMC hospital will also be taken up.
The director of IIT Mandi and ISKCON follower Laxmidhar Behera said that the initiative of the organisation will ensure that nobody in the 10 km area of Dehradun city will remain hungry. He said that the organisation is setting up a kitchen for providing free food to the needy. He claimed that the ISKCON has 111 kitchens and a total of 550 crore meals have so far been provided to the poor. The initiative provides direct nutrition to the people who need it the most. The patients and their families usually face problems in meeting their nutritional requirements during hospitalisation and the ISKCON is making efforts to reduce this load. Behra said that by setting up a centralised kitchen and distribution system the organisation will ensure that best use of resources is made for providing benefit to the people who need it the most.
Former mayor of Dehradun Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’, principal of GDMC Dr Ashutosh Sayana, representatives of ISKCON and others were present on the occasion.
