The city was totally shut on Saturday and only a handful of vehicles were on the roads.

Among them were two Boleros that criss-crossed the roads for most part of the day. The vehicles were stacked with cooked food for rickshaw-pullers, mutiyas (people who ferry load on vans or on their backs), workers at closed stalls and others whose livelihood has been hit by the pandemic.

On Saturday, one of the car’s first stop was Howrah station. The driver parked it near the prepaid taxi bay in the old complex. The station was deserted. But scores of people soon flocked to the car. Volunteers of the IHA Foundation distributed the food — hot khichdi and a mishmash of vegetables — to the people who had gathered.

One of them was Shyam Behari, a mutiya from Bihar’s Vaishali district. Behari had gone home in April. “But I don’t have land where I can work.

Working at the station is better than working on someone else’s land. So, I came back in July,” he said.

On other days, many of these people get some work. But on days of total shutdown, like Saturday, their earning is zero.

Gurdwara Behala, IHA Foundation and Kolkata Response Group organised the drive, Langar on Wheels.

“Lockdown restrictions are being relaxed but sources of income are still unreliable as of now, especially for daily-wage earners. On days of complete lockdown, they don’t have any source of food or water,” Satnam Singh Ahluwalia, the chairperson of the IHA Foundation and general secretary of Gurdwara Behala, said.

What had started as a drive to feed the poor at gurdwaras during the lockdown gradually shifted to food being carried on wheels and distributed to the needy across the city and suburbs. After completing over 100 days of food delivery on the trot till July, the drive is back again to feed people on the days of complete lockdown in the state.

The association has provided more than a million meals, according to the organisers.

“We could cater to hundreds of people when we served food at gurdwaras. But the mobile food service reaches many more. The scale of the drive has gone up manyfold,” an organiser said.

The poor and destitute could not always reach a gurdwara. So, the organisers engaged a task force and mobile units to deliver food to the needy.

The food is cooked at a couple of kitchens in south Calcutta in the morning. The distribution starts from noon.

On Saturday, one vehicle stopped in Howrah, Posta, the MG Road and Central Avenue areas and Shyambazar. Another vehicle headed stopped at Park Circus, Gariahat and Taratala among other places.

The civic body and police are lending support to the drive.