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Tribune News Service
Bathinda, December 17
To provide meal at subsidised rates to maximum people, the Red Cross Society has decided to shift the food serving venue of ‘Sasti Rasoi’ to the Civil Hospital. Earlier, the food under the project was being served near the Women and Children Hospital.
The officials of the society said the location of ‘Sasti Rasoi’ was not at a place to attract more people. As a result, it was also becoming unviable for the society to run it.
Talking to this correspondent, Sukhpreet Singh Sidhu, ADC (general), said, “The viability of the Sasti Rasoi was a major concern that we had to address on priority. Since, the food was served at one corner of the government hospital, it was inaccessible to many needy people. The poor visibility of the location of sasti rasoi was a constraint that had resulted in low inflow of people buying subsidised food. So we have decided to change its location and shift it. The work to establish the ‘Sasti Rasoi’ in front of OPD unit of Civil Hospital, near the main entrance area, has been started already.”
Sidhu added, “The idea is to provide subsidised food to maximum people. At the old location owing to low demand, sometimes cooked food could not be utilized completely and per plate cost was also increasing. Now with the change in its location, we are hopeful that maximum people would be able to have subsidised food thereby making the project more viable.”
A health department official said that the move is most likely to benefit the patients and their family members/relatives especially those visiting from rural areas and do not have enough money to buy food at dhabas or restaurants.
Earlier, uncertainty prevailed over the functioning of the Sasti Rasoi project in the city as the Red Cross Society that was handling the project had suffered losses. The society had even stopped Sasti Rasoi services in Goniana and Bhucho Mandi. The project was gradually running out of steam with number of customers dwindling with every passing day.
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