This organisation is serving langar to 1.5 lakh every day

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 16

Ever since the lockdown was announced, a Hoshiarpur-based organisation has been sending 32 vehicles packed with steaming hot langar to feed the poor and underprivileged across a number of villages.

At Sangal Sohal village where the organisation feeds 2,000 persons daily, villagers say there hasn’t been a day when its van has failed to arrive on their doorstep.

Started by US-based Manjit Singh, the Dhan Guru Ramdas Ji Langar Sewa has become the lifeline of the underprivileged clamouring for ration and feed as many as 1.5 lakh people on a daily basis. His younger brother Buta Singh runs the service when he is not around.

Lifeline of underprivileged

Being run from Dhan Guru Ramdas Sewa Asthan at Pur Hiran village at Hoshiarpur, the langar is prepared at the state-of-the-art building built on over three kanal. There are several imported machines that churn out 12,000 rotis in an hour. Groceries are being brought from Delhi even during the lockdown. Special storage utensils ensure food stays warm for six to seven hours. The vehicle is also specially designed, with attachments that can be easily converted into tables and stools, if need be.

The state-of-the-art equipment, special vehicles and machines brought here from the US and Japan ensure the langar sewa churns out fresh food for villages across the state.

Adept at langar distribution, the organisation started disbursing langar to 25 hospitals (and a residential primary school of the state) from February 19. When the lockdown was announced, the organisation was flooded with SOS calls. It hired more vehicles and started feeding the underprivileged.

Being run from Dhan Guru Ramdas Sewa Asthan at Pur Hiran village at Hoshiarpur, the langar is prepared at the state-of-the-art building built on over three kanals. There are several imported machines that churn out 12,000 rotis in an hour. Groceries are being brought from Delhi even during the lockdown. Special storage utensils ensure food stays warm for six to seven hours. The vehicle is also specially designed, with attachments that can be easily converted into tables and stools, if need be.

Buta Singh says, “People clamouring for food on highways gave my brother the idea to start the service. Every year, during Guru Ramdas Gurpurb, my brother comes back from the US to Delhi and walks all the way from Delhi to the Golden Temple, Amritsar. On many occasions, he has been asking us all to distribute food or langar to the poor he saw stranded on the road.”

Speaking on how they manage groceries even during the lockdown, Buta Singh says, “We only want to serve the best quality. Certain suppliers in Delhi serve us the best quality grains, rice etc. Our vehicles have curfew passes. But today also, a vehicle got stuck in Karnal, However, with the DC’s intervention, we managed to get the supply.”

Started in February 2019, the langar sewa was initially serving to 25 hospitals – primarily government hospitals – as well as a (residential) primary school in Hoshiarpur. After the lockdown, the service has been expanded to include as many people as possible.

While langar for 7,000 is being sent to the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, a facility has also been arranged at Muktsar.