Buxar: A quarantine centre in Buxar, on Bihar’s border with eastern Uttar Pradesh, has been thrust into the spotlight due to the gargantuan appetite of an inmate.
The youth consumes around 40 rotis (flat bread) and ten plates of steamed rice in a day. District officials are at their wits’ end after the cook threw up his hands in frustration.
Anup Ojha (23) is admitted to the quarantine ward built in a government school compound at Manjhwari village. Those who have been quarantined or have been discharged say 23-year-old Anup Ojha has a breakfast of 40 rotis and 10 plates of steamed rice for lunch.
Many say some time back when ‘litti’ (part of a meal in Bihar) was cooked and distributed among the inmates, Ojha had stunned everyone by consuming 83 of them.
The enormous appetite of Ojha was revealed to officials when they tried to find out why food in excess was being used in that quarantine centre. Finding the reason unbelievable, they reached the centre during lunch time and saw Ojha’s incredible feat for themselves.
Block Development Officer (BDO) of Simri, Ajay Kumar Singh, said the harried cook of the quarantine centre has refused to prepare rotis for Ojha. So, now Ojha has to depend on steamed rice only, with the instruction of the BDO that Ojha’s diet should not be pared down.
Singh said Ojha was brought to the centre about 10 days ago and that he had been to Rajasthan in search of a job. “Lockdown-4 broke his morale and he headed to his home in Bihar. But before being sent home, he was quarantined for 14 days,” said the officer.
