By Express News Service KOCHI: Men in khaki often hog the limelight for the wrong reasons. But on a day when the entire state was locked down, they emerged good Samaritans for the destitute in the city who were starving as the restaurants and eateries remained closed. About 500 food packets were distributed to the destitute who roamed M G Road, High Court Junction, Jose Junction, South railway station, KSRTC bus stand and North overbridge on Wednesday. The city police launched the programme on Tuesday. “We are planning to distribute food until the lockdown ends. Many organisations have extended support to our initiative so far. The plight of this section came to our notice while implementing the measures for preventing social transmission. Only police personnel are being allowed to supply food packets while the public is not allowed to do so to prevent people from gathering,” said K Laljy, assistant commissioner, Ernakulam. Sahrudaya, a charitable organisation under Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, has extended all support to the novel initiative by the police by providing food to those roaming in the city. The organisation launched a programme ‘Karunya Sparsham’ for carrying out this on Wednesday. The project intends to cater to the needs of the destitute in Ernakulam South, North railway stations, High Court Junction, KSRTC bus stand and MG Road. Earlier, Kalamassery police set a model when Reghu PS, a civil police officer at Kalamassery police station, pitched the idea of distributing food packets to the people who are on the streets. Reghu’s idea was well-received by his colleagues and they started distributing food packets from Tuesday. “Everyone was asked to bring five food packets from home,” said Reghu. At noon, the officials of Kalamassery station get out to distribute the lunch packets along with 1-2 bottles of drinking water and a packet of bread. The distribution is mainly at Kalamassery, Edappally and Ernakulam North areas. Around 200 packets have been distributed by the team till Wednesday. “There are people who can’t even walk. With lockdown in progress, they won’t be able to get food. We have to feed them. The happiness on their face encourages us to serve them better,” added Reghu. Seeing their initiative, Kalamassery YMCA has promised to provide 50 food packets from Thursday.

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