LUDHIANA: After two and half years of its launch, mini secretariat’s ‘Sashakt’ canteen, which is run by youth with special needs, is sailing in rough weather. The canteen is facing severe financial crunch due to huge drop in sales which on some days does not even touch Rs 1,000.The result of such crisis is evident from the fact that out of six youths with special needs running this canteen, two have quit recently as the canteen was not able to make enough profits during the last few months to arrange any stipend for them to sustain even their travel expenditure.According to canteen manager Jai Sharma, “The footfall in the canteen has decreased drastically during the last few months. Earlier, we used to get lot of orders from nearby offices and our sales were good. I think it is due to mushrooming of many tea and eatable stalls in the mini secretariat. Apart from this, big hoardings in the lawn outside have blocked visibility of our canteen fully and hit out sales as earlier our canteen was visible from the road and a lot of customers would walk-in.”Situated right next to Sewa Kendra, this canteen came into the limelight when it was started in March 2016 and everyone was stunned to see youth with special needs performing even the toughest tasks in the kitchen flawlessly. The present team of special individuals — Varinder Singh, Gurleen Kaur, Ankur Kumar and Harsimran Singh — is so well-versed with cooking that they do every task ranging from kneading the dough, making tea/coffee, cooking meals to cleaning the canteen and even delivering orders. The dishes which they prepare in Sashakt canteen include toast, pizza bread roll , maggie, parantha and even meals.While speaking to TOI, the youth said they love working here and feel that taking up this kind of job has made them confident as they are able to interact with so many people on a daily basis.Meanwhile, the brainchild behind the canteen, Dr Neelam Sodhi, director of Ashirwad NGO, said, “Sashakt means enabled. This project has truly enabled all those who have joined us and also enabled us to supervise the project. Their families who never thought them of being capable to perform any task at home are now working tirelessly for six hours with short breaks in between and doing it all again with a smile. However, these youths not only need compassion but support and encouragement by making a decent livelihood through initiatives like these. City residents, especially those visiting or working in the mini secretariat, should support them in their efforts as these are young adults with special needs who had never stepped out of their home except to go to other sheltered environments. Those who were never exposed to working in their own kitchens are now comfortably using knives and graters, cooking on fire, serving people with ease and comfort, cleaning up, maintaining sanitation and hygiene.

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