Andhra Pradesh: 1,600 free chapatis feed hospital visitors

Vijayawada: The government had started a chapati plant for attendants and outpatients at a government hospital. Now the plant has been providing them with 1,600 chapatis daily, free of cost at the Vijayawada Government hospital. An idea to do social service planted the seed for this venture. A while ago, one Aumalasetty Chandra Shekar, met his friends and encouraged them to do social service for the needy at government hospitals. With the support of his 18 friends, he started Sri Vasavi Annapurna Seva Samiti (SVASS) to serve food to the attendants.  The 18 members were determined to support the project financially for as long as they could.  

They decided to start a ‘chapati plant’. It wasn’t easy and initially they were beset with problems.  To begin with, they needed the proper permissions. At one time it got so difficult that they wanted to withdraw the free service idea. They met many well-known names to find a solution and keep the plant running. Finally D. Uma Maheswararao from the hospital committee, spoke to the health minister and got permission to build a plant at a cost of Rs 4 lakh. They bought an automatic chapati-making machine at a cost of Rs 9 lakh.

On October 27 this year, the plant was inaugurated by health minister Kamineni Srinivas Rao. Within a few days the service of the SVASS was getting appreciation from all sides. “We have faced many problems to build this plant, One day we almost gave up. But by God’s grace it has started, now we are fulfilling around 300 people’s hunger,” said G.D.V. Prasad, president, SVASS. 

“Serving free chapatis to the needy has given us more satisfaction than all the things we have done previously. We are thankful to the government, the minister and the hospital committee chairman Uma Maheswararo,” said  A. Chandrashekar Rao, secretary, SVASS. The samiti is now serving around 300 to 400 people, 1,600 chapatis daily in the afternoon. Per day they are spending Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 on preparing the food. They are purchase wheat, grind it and making oil-free chapatis served with a dal or a curry.

“The chapatis are very tasty, and the samiti members are serving chapatis free of cost. We barely managed to escape from the hawkers who sell food with a hole in our pockets. I came to the hospital as an OP, they gave me the token for the food at the time of entry,” said Mrs. Venkataramana, an outpatient. The organisers are taking precautions as per the norms of the hospital to provide quality and healthy food.