RAMANATHAPURAM: In a kindness act, a tomato trader in Ramanathapuram decided to forego his sales for two days and distribute his entire consignment of 15 tonnes of tomatoes to 5,000 poor families so that they could tide over the lockdown.
J R P Manikandan of Ramanathapuram said that he had been a wholesale tomato trader for three decades.
During the first lockdown last year when Covid struck, he had given away bags of assorted vegetables to 2,000 families, including municipality workers and loadmen.
This year too, he gave away bags of five kg rice and vegetables to thousands of families.
When he realised that people were struggling to find groceries and vegetables during the lockdown, he decided to provide bags of tomatoes to 5,000 families as a goodwill gesture.
“Tomatoes are used in many dishes, nutritious and have immunity boosting properties, hence I decided to give them away,” he said.
A good quantity of tomatoes would ensure a proper meal.
His family and friends helped pack the tomatoes into bags of two kg each and they distributed them through share autos in all the residential areas of the municipality on Sunday and Monday.
“The response was overwhelming though the tomatoes are only selling at Rs 15 a kg.
People said that it would help them,” he said.