Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s dream project “Indira Canteens” has received international recognition, with international news portal BBC publishing a special report on the same and praising it to be “best scheme for those who are hungry.”
CM Siddaramaiah personally shared the good news of his scheme making it to BBC headlines on his twitter page. He tweeted, “This project is a part of my personal commitment to usher in a Hunger Free Karnataka. I grew up envisioning a society where no one goes to bed hungry & undernourished. Proud that my government has been committed to build this Karnataka since day 1.”
“Serving hot, healthy & affordable meals, Indira Canteen is an ambitious step towards building a Hunger Free Karnataka”, CM tweeted.
BBC on November 20, had published a special article on Karnataka Government’s “Indira Canteen” scheme, with their special correspondent Geeta Pandey personally visiting a canteen located near the bustling City Market. BBC reported that the food served here was fresh, warm, flavourful and delicious and each dish costs a mere five rupees, or about 13 cents, which is as good as free. The customers at these canteens are mostly poor people: daily wage labourers, drivers, security guards, beggars-who earn a few hundred rupees a day, sometimes not even that. And for them, every penny counts. Those who used to spend Rs 140 per day are spending only Rs 40 per day, saving Rs 100. The scheme will definitely help in improving the financial status of the poor, BBC reported.
“The food is very good. Earlier, I used to eat in a nearby restaurant and would pay 30 rupees for breakfast. Now I’m saving 25 rupees. It’s a good thing. They should extend this scheme to the rest of the state too.”, a security guard at a Bangalore shopping centre told Geetha Pandey.
On August 16 , a day after India celebrated 70 years of independence from British colonial rule, Congress Party Vice President Rahul Gandhi travelled to Bangalore to inaugurate the canteen to “free people from hunger.”
Today, there are 152 canteens in the city, serving 200,000 meals daily. The plan is to grow to 198 canteens serving 300,000 meals a day by the end of November. The scheme would then be expanded to cover the rest of the state by January, with more than 300 canteens in total, BBC reported.
Geetha Pandey also shares her own experience of eating breakfast at the canteen and says, “I ate at one Amma canteen last year and the food was good. At Indira canteen, it’s even better.”
