Soon, spl food packages for patients at doorsteps

KOLKATA: The West Bengal Comprehensive Area Development Corporation (WBCADC), an autonomous organisation under the state Panchayats and Rural Development (P&RD) department that delivers grocery, vegetables, fish and meat as well as cooked items to the doorstep, will soon introduce a special food package for the patients.

"We are expecting to start this new platter for patients by November –December. The food will have high protein, fibre and iron content with minimum spice. There will be no minimum ordering value in the case of patients. We will be finalising the menu soon," a senior official of WBCADC said.

Senior officials of WBCADC associated with this home delivery wing held a virtual meeting with customers on Tuesday afternoon and gave a patient hearing regarding their experience and suggestions for improvement in delivery mechanism.

"We will soon introduce ready-to-fry items in the form of fish fry, paturi, egg devil etc and Swarnachura rice as a raw material considering the huge demand of our customers," Soumyajit Das, Administrative Secretary of WBCADC said.

A section of customers complained regarding disparity in the size of raw fish delivered at doorsteps. WBCADC will soon hold training sessions in this regard with the SHG women involved in this area so that the issue can be addressed.

A customer complained that sometimes it has been found that among the dozen eggs that he had sought for delivery, three to four were damaged. "We will ensure that in cases of items found to be damaged, the price paid by the customer gets adjusted in the following delivery," a senior CADC official said.

Customers heaved lavish praise on the quality of sweets that are supplied by WBCADC. Director state Food Processing Industries and Horticulture department Jayanta Kumar Aikat suggested developing a separate supply chain for sweets by entering into a sort of partnership with the leading producers of sweets.

A customer in south Kolkata requested for reducing the price range for home delivery of items which is a minimum of Rs 500 in the southern part.

In North and central Kolkata upto Park Street, the minimum value for delivery is Rs 350 and in Salt Lake and New Town it is Rs 150.

WBCADC reasoned the rising price of fuel for a higher minimum value for delivery in south Kolkata which is quite far from its office in Salt Lake.