The volunteers of Sikh-based organisation, Khalsa Aid, started a community service kitchen called Guru ka langar on Thursday for Rohingya refugees.

The volunteers of the Sikh organisation, Khalsa Aid, started a community service kitchen called Guru ka langar on Thursday for the Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar after Bangladesh government gave the required clearances to begin the relief work.

The preparation and serving of food began on Shahpuri Island on Thursday. “We had purchased raw materials like rice, vegetables and big utensils on Wednesday after getting required permissions from the government of Bangladesh. The initial target is at least 35,000 meals per day,” the organisation's managing director Amarpreet Singh was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

He added that the organisation was serving the langar while being aware that the food they are capable of preparing would not be enough to feed all.

According to The Times of India, Khalsa Aid prepared vegetable biryani for over 30,000 refugees and distributed it among them in packets on Thursday.

The volunteers had reached the border on 9 September and distributed bottled water, biscuits and bread from the next day. They had to, however, wait for three days to get permission for the langar.

On reaching the Teknaf town on Bangladesh border on Tuesday, Singh had told The Indian Express that condition was “miserable to say the least”.

Meanwhile, India sent the first consignment of assistance to Dhaka after Bangladesh conveyed to India about the humanitarian crisis faced by it due to the influx of the refugees.

Under Operation Insaniyat, India sent 53 tonnes on Thursday of the total 7,000 tonnes meant for the relief. The material includes items required urgently by the affected people like rice, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking oil, tea, ready to eat noodles, biscuits, and mosquito nets.

With inputs from PTI