Coimbatore: Curfew brings the best out of denizens

COIMBATORE: When the district was completely shut down in support of janata curfew on Sunday, some good Samaritans of the city stepped out of their houses and distributed food packets and water bottles to homeless and migrant workers.
“For the past three days, we have been distributing food to health workers who were at government hospitals and at screening centres that were set up by the government.When we realized that all the eateries would be closed due to janata curfew, we had decided to provide food to the homeless people, as well,” Roshan from Kirthigainatham Trust said.
As most of the catering services and restaurants were closed, the members of the trust had cooked food at their homes and distributed it to the migrant workers who were stranded in front of the railway station and to homeless people in front of Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH).
Shanmugaraja who works with Sudhar Trust – which provides final rites to the destitute corpses – said, “This morning when we returned after cremating a body, a group of people approached us and started to ask for food. It is only then we decided to arrange food for the homeless people.”
Within an hour after Vaishnavee Balaji, founder of food bank was informed that close to 200 people were struggling without having food, she rushed to the spot with biscuit and bread packets after planning to provide them a proper lunch.
Meanwhile, Mahendran from Eera Nenjam, a NGO, which maintains a corporation shelter for homeless at RS Puram, drove across the city to identify the homeless. He had accommodated 25 homeless people in his shelter after making several trips between his shelter and several places in the city.