Community kitchen serves meals at Rs 10

A community kitchen, named after Diwan Todar Mal, is serving the needy by providing meals at a nominal price of Rs 10. The kitchen was started by Hindu Naya Peeth in 2020, and since then it has been serving meals to people in need. Stalls are being installed by volunteers at eight locations in the city from 12 pm to 3 pm.

Advertisement

Parveen Dang, president of Hindu Naya Peeth, sharing the thought behind setting up the Diwan Todar Mal Sewa Society, said their aim was to serve people, especially the downtrodden. He said they set up their first stall on August 5, 2020, at Gandhi Nagar, and now the number has grown to eight.

“We have fixed a nominal price of Rs 10 for a thali so that those in need can eat. In case anyone is unable to pay, they are still served food. The only motive behind keeping a price for the meals is so that people do not get used to eating free food, as many times it is observed that free food is wasted,” said Dang.

Dang further said they had named the society after Diwan Todar Mal, who played an important role in Sikh history, but he was not very renowned, and even the government had failed to do much in recognising his services. “Diwan Todar Mal was a Sikh merchant from Sirhind who performed the cremation of the younger sahibzadas, Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh, and their grandmother, Mata Gujari, after they were executed by the Mughals for not renouncing their faith. Diwan Todar Mal had to cover the required ground for cremation with gold coins to get the bodies released,” shared Dang.