Emergency Relief for 500 of Kolkata's Ultra-Poor families during COVID Lockdown

Maya is about 75, widowed and lives alone in a shelter beside the Topsia "canal" (open sewer). She still collects waste to survive: she is one of Kolkata's army of rag pickers. If she cannot go out she will starve. Thousands of daily labourers, migrant workers, rag pickers, rickshaw wallahs and other ultra poor are suffering terrible privations because of the coronavirus lockdown. In central Kolkata's squatter camps, families whose income has dropped to zero overnight are looking to Tiljala SHED for help. They desperately need food right now and also the money to purchase other daily necessities.

Tiljala SHED has worked with rag pickers and the ultra-poor in the squatter camps and slums of Central Kolkata for over 30 years. Large families live in illegal shelters beside the railway tracks and open sewers. They have no proper sanitation and clean water flows just twice a day for a few hours. They depend on daily wages to eat but there is no work as they cannot go out. This virus will hit these areas the very hardest. We have collected bank account details from 1500 of the poorest families and will pay a monthly stipend of Rs1500 to each family for 3 months. We are also distributing food and medical supplies to those especially vulnerable people like Maya, who do not have bank accounts. Because of lockdown we do not want to spread infection through gatherings of individuals for food distribution so we aim, where possible, to get aid straight into the accounts of the most needy.

By putting cash straight into the accounts of the most in need, we are ensuring they can feed their families today. Your help will save families from starvation and destitution. Your donation will enable us to get food and medical supplies to the elderly and most at risk.