Mumbai: Father-son duo aim to reach out to 5,000 needy families with ration kits in Ramzan

MUMBAI: Bandra residents Shabbir N Patel and his son Shadaab Shabbir Patel have so far reached out to 2,500 families with ration kits in Ramzan. They hope to reach out to a total 5,000 families by the end of the holy month.
Shadaab said that, though he is affiliated with many NGOs, during Ramzan he reaches out to the needy with the help of a database he has collected over the years.They distribute coupons to families so that each family gets appropriate ration bags and there is no repetition as one coupon is given to each family of four members.
The ration is sufficient for a family of four to be consumed approximately for a month. Shadaab explained that each kit carries three types of daal of 2 kgs each, 5 kgs rice, 5 kgs wheat, 2 kgs tea, 2 kgs of sugar, 2 litre sunflower oil, 250 gm of turmeric powder, 250 gm coriander powder, 250 gm chili powder,1 litre Rooh Afza sherbet.
The beneficiaries include both those who have received help in the previous years and those who never took such help. "During the period when people'e salary was cut and many of them lost jobs due to the pandemic, they obtained loans at the high rate of interest. We are trying to resolve those issues also so that people who have started with their new jobs also find it easy in the coming years by not paying interest on the loans they procured during the pandemic," said Shadaab. He added that if Muslims distributed zakat properly, no one will sleep hungry.
The main purpose of ration distribution, said Shadaab, is to serve the needy. After proper verification, many women who have lost male breadwinners are given sewing and stitching machines. After some time, many zakat seekers become zakat givers.
He also claimed that the Patels don’t discriminate against anyone. "The Intention is to help the less privileged which has been done appropriately over the years. There is no specific time. But in Ramzan, the distribution process increases and we always think that the people who are less privileged should immediately receive the ration kits and the intention is that nobody should sleep hungry," he said.
The father-son duo were in the forefront with help to the needy during the pandemic. There we're many needy who couldn't stand in the queue to seek ration. Shadaab ensured that such families we're given the help too. "This was done to enable the people to receive help even if they didn't need to come out during the pandemic in order to maintain the protocols of covid-19.