Iskcon, Adani Group tie up to give meals to nearly 100k daily at Maha Kumbh

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), in partnership with the Adani Group, is providing meals to nearly one lakh people daily at the ongoing Maha Kumbh, a spiritual organisation's official said.

At a camp on Harshvardhan Marg here, ISKCON's one kitchen prepares food for 30,000 - 35,000 people in one session, and more than one lakh people are served food in three sessions a day, its Director (CSR) Madhukant Das told PTI. 

 

ISKCON's food -- which includes dal, chole or rajma, vegetables and roti and rice, and halwa or boondi laddu in sweets-- is completely balanced. These meals are prepared on a clay stove over a fire of wood and cow dung cakes, which makes them taste amazing, he added.

Das said meals are being distributed at 40 centres across Prayagraj, including bus stands, railway stations and several holding areas, where the crowd of devotees are halted on the main bathing days.

He also informed that the food is also being distributed to 15,000 employees engaged in cleaning at the fair and surrounding areas. ISKCON has set up three kitchens across Prayagraj, which are located at Khusrobagh near the Prayagraj junction, Netra Kumbh in Sector 6 and ISKCON temple premises in Sector 19 and food prasad is being prepared and distributed from here.

ISKCON comes to every Kumbh, so cow dung cakes are being made six months before the commencement of the fair.

Das also said that 100 vehicles have been deployed for the distribution of food, which have been provided by the Adani Group.

Three to three and a half thousand volunteers from Adani Group and ISKCON are providing their services. The entire project is environment friendly, and plastic is not being used anywhere in this 45-day fair, he added.

Another ISKCON official said that with the Adani Group joining hands, ISKCON's capacity to distribute food prasad has increased 8-10 times.

An Adani Group official said the company's people are very enthusiastic about serving in the Maha Kumbh Mela.

The company opened a portal to provide service, and 4,000 people applied in a single day, which the company had not expected.

The officials said that vice president and general manager level executives from the Adani Group are also coming to serve in this fair. The company's employees and officials are coming to serve in batches of 100-150.