Food army is known to reach out to people Volunteers from Mumbai segregate flood relief material donated by the general public to be sent to Kerala, in on Sunday. (Express Photo By Ganesh Shirsekar) Food army is known to reach out to people Volunteers from Mumbai segregate flood relief material donated by the general public to be sent to Kerala, in on Sunday. (Express Photo By Ganesh Shirsekar)

A voluntary group, which has appealed through text messages to people in Mumbai to send dry food packets to their collection centres for the flood-affected people in Kerala, collected 40,000 kg of food parcels on Sunday. It is expected to be distributed in Kerala by Wednesday.

“We want to send dry food, which would last till it reaches the state and would be okay to eat. Dry upama, rice, tur dal, milk powder and sugar are some of the items collected,” said Rintu Rathod, a Santacruz-based baker who runs the voluntary group, Food Army.

In the past, the group had sent food packets during the Kashmir floods (2014), Chennai floods (2017) and floods in Nepal (2018). Rathod said the collection centres had to be shut by Sunday evening as there was no place left to store the food. “We had to politely refuse the additional food packets sent by people as our collection centres were full. It is heartening to see the support from people in Mumbai for the flood-ravaged state,” she said.

As Mumbai reaches out to the flood-affected state, the All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council has collected close to Rs 25 lakh. Nitin Khandelwal, chairman of the organisation, said, “We have received contributions from most of our jewellery organisations and centres to help the victims.”

Airlines including Vistara, SpiceJet and Indigo have arranged additional flights to Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Coimbatore. “Vistara does not usually operate to Thiruvananthapuram, but made the special arrangement to help people travel into and outside of the city/state. These flights include those to/from Delhi and Chennai, with economy class fares capped at Rs 10,000 and Rs 7,500, respectively,” a statement from Vistara said.

“IndiGo will ensure to provide cancellation and rescheduling waiver to passengers booked from August 16, 2018 to August 26, 2018. We are constantly liaising with local partners to transport relief materials including medicines, dry rashan (grocery) and sanitary items,” a statement from Indigo airlines said.

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