Lucknow Metro rolls out food packets for stranded workers from its kitchen

The city's metro rail service has ground to a halt but some of its staff members are still at work, cooking food for those left without jobs after the lockdown to halt coronavirus.

"There are a number of people, especially migrant labourers who have been left stranded in the state capital because of the lockdown, Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Managing Director, Kumar Keshav said.

The Lucknow Metro kitchen staff is preparing food packets in its kitchen at the metro depot situated in Transport Nagar," he told PTI.

The food packets, about a 1,000 every day, are then handed over to the municipal authorities for distribution at rain baseras' and other shelters for helpless people set up in the city.

The Nagar Nigam also provides the raw material for the food cooked in the metro kitchen, which in normal times serves the staff canteen.

On the first day of the operation, the kitchen rolled out 500 food packets. This has gone up to 1,000 per day, he said.

Although the metro services have stopped, like all other transport services nationwide, because of the lockdown, the staff runs one train every morning and evening.

This is to ensure preparedness, so that Lucknow Metro can restart operations without any delay once the orders come in, he said.

Before the lockdown, Lucknow Metro trains ran from 6 am to 10 pm, ferrying 70,000 passengers every day.

The metro employs 850 people but only the essential staff is now being called to work. Kumar Keshav said there have been no cuts in the salaries after the lockdown.