Sharad Pawar dons Dabbawala cap, lauds Mumbai's famed tiffin-carriers by distributing free bicycles

In a warm gesture Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar donned a Dabbawala Cap and lavished praise on the globallyfamed Mumbai community of tiffinbox carriers at a function to distribute free bicycles here on WednesdayThe dabbawalas have been serving the people of Mumbai since over a century They have made it to the Guinness World Records Even Britains Prince Charles came to Mumbai and appreciated their services said PawarHe said that the dabbawalas efficiently and humbly ferry tiffinboxes to over 200000 officegoers workers students and others and the people have a lot to learn from themLater Pawar distributed bicycles to four dabbawalas of the first lot of 200 and the rest will be given out over the next couple of daysNutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust NMTBSCT President Ulhas Muke offered the traditional dabbawala cap to Pawar who readily donned it draped the NCP leader with a shawl and presented h a memento of their iconic trademark a gleaming dabba in a glass caseMuke said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Shiv SenaNCPCongress has been very helpful to the dabbawalas and have promised to set up a Dabbawalas Housing Complex with around 3500plus homes in ThaneThe first lot of 200 bicycles the chief commuting tool for the dabbawalas for the past 130 years was financed through crowdfunding said NMTBSCT Spokesperson Ritesh S AndreEach heavyduty bicycle costs Rs 6500 In around a month HSBC India will donate around 1300 bicycles under their CSR activity to cover almost all the dabbawalas now and in our proposed future endeavours Andre told IANSTaking a nearfatal hit during the two protracted periods of Covid19 pandemic lockdown the dabbawalas are now slowly limping back to normalcy with nearly 25 per cent of the 2000strong tribe resuming duties said another officebearer Ramdas KarvandeAlso Read Mumbais dabbawalas face financial crisis amid Covid19 lockdownHowever from August 15 we have decided to diversify by setting up a community kitchen subscriptionbased from where we shall supply tiffins to the customers all over Mumbai Initially we target 1000 mealsday which will be later scaled up as per the demands Andre addedRenowned globally for their top efficiency the dabbawalas have been the subject matter for studies and research in leading universities and visited by The Netherlands Queen Maxima the newlyanointed astronaut Richard Branson and other prominent dignitaries besides being invited to the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005The dabbawalas reciprocated by sending a set of Maharashtrianstyle silver gifts to herald the birth of Archie MountbattenWindsor the first child of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May 2019This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever