A subsidised canteen set up by the CPM during the Covid-19-induced lockdown to cater for people and families with limited access to food crossed 850 days of service on Monday.
The Jadavpur Sramajibi Canteen started its journey on April 3, 2020, a few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the nationwide lockdown as a measure to curb the spread of Covid-19. Since then, the canteen remained closed only on three days when the Left called national strikes.
More than two years later, the canteen at Jadavpur in Calcutta is diversifying its services under the CPM’s Mission 360 Degree programme launched by the party’s state secretary Md Salim in a bid to reconnect with the common man and win back people’s confidence in the Left.
Mission 360 promises to deliver services in sectors it believes the Mamata Banerjee government has failed. The sectors include basic healthcare, education and employment.
“On the 850th day of the canteen, we received the registration copy of the Jadavpur Sramajibi Trust. We shall receive a PAN card against the trust in a few days and that will be followed by opening a bank account,” said Sudip Sengupta, one of the minds behind the canteen.
According to Sengupta, a former state president of the SFI, so far donations have come in individual capacities, while it is expected to multiply with the formation of a registered trust.
“We feed 600 to 650 people daily at Rs 20 per head. Additionally, we have identified some local families who are served food free of cost. With other initiatives coming up, we will need larger donations and hopefully, the setting up of the trust will help,” he said.
In a first step towards expanding its initiative, on August 5, which is the birthday of CPM ideologue Muzaffar Ahmad, the trust will start a healthcare centre in association with a local charitable trust.
Alongside, the organisers are also in the process of setting up a coaching centre and library in the name of the late CPM veteran Shyamal Chakraborty.
Sengupta added the idea to provide varied services to local people was first brought up by organisers of Jadavpur Sramajibi Canteen, which later was accepted as a state-wide project and came to be known as Mission 360 degree. According to SFI state secretary Srijan Bhattacharya, the students’ organisation runs around 150 coaching centres right now and has set a target of opening 500 such facilities across Bengal.
Much of the success of the canteen lies in Left sympathisers and several common people coming forward to celebrate or observe personal events by donating funds to the centre. The family of filmmaker Tarun Majumdar, who passed away on July 4, has decided to fund the expenses of the canteen on August 4.
At present, four such canteens set up by the CPM during the lockdown survive across the state but the Jadavpur Sramajibi Canteen is the oldest of them all.
Covid cases
Bengal on Tuesday logged 883 Covid-19 infections, 2,118 recoveries and four deaths. The state has currently 12,254 active patients — 11,920 in home isolation and 334 at hospitals.
The recovery rate was 98.39 per cent on Tuesday.
