The Khalsa Aid team of the Indian Sikhs has started camping in the border town of Teknaf, got the required clearance and permission from the Bangladesh authorities to serve meals to the Rohingya refugees on Wednesday.
Earlier, the team, which reached the border town on Monday, was distributing packed food items and water to Rohingya Muslims, Times of India reported.
According to The Times of India, Khalsa Aid prepared vegetable biryani for over 30,000 refugees and distributed it among them in packets on Thursday.Managing Director Amarpreet Singh told Indian Express that, “We cooked and served the first langar meals here today. We had purchased raw materials like rice, vegetables and big utensils on Wednesday after getting required permissions from the government of Bangladesh.
The initial target is at least 35,000 meals per day. However seeing the increasing number of refugees here, we know it won’t be enough to feed all but we had to start somewhere.”
Seeing the ‘miserable state’ of the refugees, especially children who haven’t eaten for days, it was difficult for the team to decide from where langar should start, he added.
“We feared that there might be a stampede seeing food being served here. There are at least 3 lakh refugees here already. But a beginning had to be made though we cannot feed everyone here in a single day. People are in dire need of food here. Children are roaming and begging on roads for food. The condition continues to be miserable,” he said.
“We went to local markets to purchase utensils and raw materials. But some shopkeepers inflated the rates and quoted double prices seeing that we are outsiders.
However many locals also helped us in making arrangements. We managed somehow. Attitude of the locals towards Rohingyas is varying at individual level. Some are really compassionate and trying to help them. They are even coming from far off areas to help them but then some are not. They are seeing them as burden on their country,” said Singh.