Corporation mulling community kitchens to ensure food: Mayor

The city Corporation is mulling opening community kitchens to ensure availability of food amid the ongoing LPG crisis, Mayor V.V. Rajesh has said.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, the Mayor said parents of students from other districts had contacted the Corporation expressing apprehension that some hostels in Thiruvananthapuram were closing down, putting a question mark over their wards’ upcoming examinations. There were also concerns over ensuring food for patients and those accompanying them in hospitals.

Against this backdrop, the Corporation has decided that it would launch community kitchens centred on hostels and hospitals if food became difficult to come by for students and those accompanying patients in hospitals, Mr. Rajesh said.

An all-party meeting will be held at the Corporation on Sunday. It will be followed by an online meeting of Corporation councillors. If need be, food will be made available to those living in hostels and frequenting hospitals from Monday under the aegis of the Corporation through the councillors, the Mayor said.

The modalities of how the food would be distributed – at zonal level or forming wards into clusters – would be decided at the two meetings, he said.

He underlined that students need not leave hostels owing to apprehension over food availability.

‘No fleecing’

The Mayor said hotel owners had been directed not to fleece consumers in the name of LPG shortage. Indications had been received that those supplying food online could consider hiking food prices.

The Corporation, he said, would intervene strongly to check hoarding and black marketeering of LPG cylinders. Inspections would be held when needed. The directions of Union and State governments would be followed stringently.

Talks have been held with representatives of hotel and restaurant association in the city Corporation limits to review the situation. Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi has also detailed the steps taken by the Union government to address the LPG shortage over telephone. The Minister has informed them of the government decision to allocate around 20% of the average monthly commercial LPG requirement to help address the shortage, the Mayor said.

If need be, an online meeting between the Minister and hotel owners and catering association to review the situation would be held on Sunday, Mr. Rajesh said.