Making the 93rd birthday of former Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the North and the South Delhi Municipal Corporations on Monday launched the ‘Atal Jan Aahar Yojana’, under which the people from economically weaker sections will be able to buy lunch at just ₹10.
The scheme, which was first floated in the Standing Committee of the North Corporation by the chairperson Tilak Raj Kataria, was followed by the south civic body.
Kiosks were set up in various crowded markets and neighbourhoods, each simultaneously inaugurated at 11 a.m. on Monday by senior BJP leaders.
Kiosks inaugurated
“Despite being under severe financial crunch, by launching the scheme to feed the poor at only ₹10, the North Corporation has proved that to work for the people what is needed is will and not just money,” Mr. Kataria said as he inaugurated the kiosk along the north Delhi Mayor Preety Agarwal at Shalimar Bagh.
In the South Corporation, these kiosks were inaugurated at five locations — Okhla Mandi, Matiala Chowk, Green Park near All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), B-1 block old cloth market near Ghode wala Mandir in Raghubir Nagar, and Kakraula Mor near the municipality office.
Senior BJP leaders including Ramesh Bidhuri, Manoj Tiwari, south Delhi Mayor Kamaljeet Sehrawat, deputy Mayor Kailash Sankla and the South Corporation Standing Committee chairperson Bhupinder Gupta were present at the inauguration of these kiosks.
Malini Kumar, 36, who has come to Delhi to get her husband treated at the AIIMS stood in the queue with her four-year-old son to buy lunch from the newly open kiosk.
‘Stall is a blessing’
“I was standing near the bus stand as the visiting hours in the hospital were over, when I saw a crowd gathering at the stall here. It is good for people like me, who do not have a lot of money to spare for food everyday,” she said.
Ms. Kumar said that for ₹10 she was able to feed herself and her son well. They were also given a bowl full of halwa after the meal.
“At ₹10 you don’t get anything these days. I wish my husband gets out of the hospital soon, but this stall is a blessing for me to survive while I wait for him outside,” she said.
