Coronavirus: IRCTC fires up its kitchens; provides meals to over 4 lakh people

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has stepped up to help in the fight against coronavirus. The catering arm of Indian Railways has ramped up production across all of its kitchens in the country and have provided meals to over 4 lakh people since the 21-day nationwide lockdown began.

IRCTC is preparing food for people across all of its 28 locations in the country including its base kitchens. Officials said that the catering unit provided over 51,000 meals across the country on Monday.

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Spokesperson Siddhartha Singh told news agency IANS that IRCTC is preparing food for over 8,000 people at its kitchen, which is provided to Railway Protection Force and the state government in Delhi. "The food is prepared here as per demand. As we have demand for 8,200 meals we are providing that and as the demand increases, the production of food will also go up easily," the IRCTC official said.

In Delhi, IRCTC meals are provided twice every day. Kitchens start making food at 6am and lunch is prepared by 11am. Dinner preparation starts at 1pm and is ready by 6pm. Food is collected from the kitchen at 11am and 7pm for delivery to the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Delhi government officials and Delhi Police.

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He added that the IRCTC kitchen in Delhi usually has around 125 people but only 18 members of the staff have been working since the lockdown. "But despite less staff we are maintaining the quality of food and preparing meals to over 8,000 people on a daily basis," he added. The Delhi kitchen is capable of preparing food to up to 15,000 people.

Kitchen staff members are made to follow strict norms and are screened every day before entering the kitchen. The workers also sanitise their hands, wear head masks, gloves and face masks before entering the kitchen.

Veg pulao, poha and khichdi are prepared on a rotational basis in the Delhi kitchen.

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