It was a scheme that would have come as a boon to the poor of Andhra Pradesh and the TDP government was well on its way to implement it. But after putting everything in place, the state has decided to shelve the Anna Canteen scheme for the time being.
The canteens, where the government was planning to serve food at affordable rates to daily wage workers and other financially weaker sections, were named after TDP founder NT Rama Rao. It was NTR's commitment to provide food to the poor that had finally developed into his popular Rs 2 per kilo rice programme.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu had announced in August last year that Anna Canteens would be started on the lines of the Amma Canteens being operated by the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu.
In no time, he set up a cabinet sub-committee with municipal administration minister P Narayana, civil supplies minister Paritala Suneetha and agriculture minister Pratipati Pullarao as members.
Naidu also asked collectors to locate the venues and NGOs which will operate the canteens on a no-profit-noloss basis.
All three ministers visited Chennai on September 19, 2014, to examine the programme in the neighbouring state. They visited the largest Amma Canteen, run by the municipal corporation in Chennai's Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, tasted the food and returned home satisfied.
“The ministers were informed that in Chennai alone, about 1.5 lakh people visit the 230 canteens located in the corporation area every day. This covers almost 20 per cent of the total BPL families in the city,“ sources said.
Launched in February 2014 in 10 corporations, the programme has turned into a roaring success.
The biggest reason for the success was the low cost of the meals. In Chennai, the canteen was providing idly at Re 1 per plate, pongal for Rs 5, lunch (sambar rice and curry rice) for Rs 5, lemon rice and curd rice for Rs 3.For dinner, chapathi with kurma was being served at Rs 3 per plate.
Returning to AP, the ministers proposed that a scheme with similar pricing can be implemented in the state. Accordingly, it was decided that 35 such canteens will be opened at various places -Visakhapatnam (15), Guntur (10), Tirupati (5) and Anantapur (5).
The cost of the scheme too was estimated and Rs 40 crore was earmarked for the pilot programme. It was estimated that the project would cost Rs 25 crore per year subsequently .
But all of a sudden, all talks of the Anna Canteen have been shelved. After the initial enthusiasm, the cabinet sub-committee has not met even once in the past eight months.
Sources in the government claimed that Naidu is of the view that the popular scheme should be implemented just before the elections in 2019 so that the party can reap its electoral dividends.
“The Anna Canteens will be a big hit among the poor. Therefore, Naidu has decided to implement the scheme in the run-up to the next elections,“ sources said.
The poor of the state will now have to wait for at least two to three years to taste the Anna lunch.
Source: TimesOfIndia
