Sambalpur: Three men of Sambalpur have come together to ensure that no one in the city goes to bed hungry. The initiative popular as Roti Bank was started on Gandhi Jayanti last year.
Every evening, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm , the Roti Bank, a wing of Khidmat Social Organisation, serves dinner to the poor and homeless at Peer Baba Chowk. The meal consists of rice, dal, chapati, curry, pickle and sometimes papad and sweet.They had started off with 35 meals a day but now serve 80.

Eight people work for smooth functioning of the Roti Bank. While three are employees, five are volunteers. As the initiative drew attention, people joined and provided essential items like wheat and rice voluntarily. At times, people bear the cost of free meals at Roti Bank.
“It was started by Farooque, Guddu and me. Later many others joined. We will start mobile service in a month. Sometimes, we are informed about hungry passengers in the railway station at night. We send meals for them,” said Alim Kamdar, founder member of Roti Bank.
S Farooque (56) from Khidmat said, “We are planning to reach out to the needy on vehicles and provide them a meal for dinner. Not everyone can come here, so a mobile service will benefit many who are unable to come here.”
Members of Roti Bank are conducting a survey to find out needy people in different parts of Sambalpur so that they can provide them food.
Kumara Sika, a homeless person, who has been eating at the roti bank for last two months, said, “At times, we also get paneer along with chapati, dal and curry. They are providing food free of cost. May God bless them.” Roti Bank is funded by the voluntary organisation and volunteers.

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