Newspapers to carry food coupons
District Collector N Prasanth on Thursday called a meeting of newspaper heads to discuss the programme
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-11-06 06:53 GMT
KOZHIKODE: In order to take ‘Operation Sulaimani’ to more people who are in need, the district administration is planning to distribute coupons pinned on newspapers in the city on November 13 which is being observed as International Day for Food with Dignity.
District Collector N Prasanth on Thursday called a meeting of newspaper heads to discuss the programme. He said that he wanted to take the programme to more people as many were still unaware of it.
The district administration would create awareness about the programme and about the upcoming coupon distribution from November 10.
The idea is that the reader of a newspaper would identify a person who is in need of help and hand over the coupon to him/her. So the readers have to be made aware of the programme and several awareness campaigns would be conducted for that.
Kozhikode District Corporation had launched the “Operation Sulaimani’ project with the aim that nobody should go hungry in the city. It tied up with the Hotels and Restaurants association and a majority of city hotels had joined the programme. The district administration raised funds by requesting voluntary contribution from the people and also placed donation boxes in restaurants where people could sponsor a meal for the poor.
Operation Sulaimani, however, failed to attain its full potential as many in need did not know how to get the coupons or were too shy to go to the village office and collect the coupons.
However, some hotels did extremely well and served free food to many persons. “It has to reach everyone who is in need and the coupons have to reach them. The new initiative is to publicise the programme,” a district collectorate official said.