Over the past week, the near-complete Indira Canteen near Cantonment Railway Station was dismantled bit by bit. In perhaps the first such move since the initiative to set up centres for subsidised food in every ward of the city was launched, the pre-cast canteen at a park next to the traffic signal on Millers Road has been completed removed.
“We had set up the canteen in the park that we had recovered from slum-dwellers who had encroached on it. It was the BBMP who maintained it. However, when we started building the canteen, South Western Railway (SWR) objected,” said N. Manjunath Prasad, Commissioner, BBMP. He said with the SWR claiming the land as theirs, the BBMP had written to them, even offering to pay a licensing fee for using the land for the “public purpose” project. “Leasing the land is part of their rules. But, their reaction was negative. We were forced to shift the canteen,” he said.
Manoj Rajan, Special Commissioner (Projects), said the canteen would be shifted to a BBMP office in Vasanthnagar. “Because, it is pre-fabricated technology, there is little monetary loss. Only labour costs were incurred,” he said.
The canteen had neared completion before the August 15 deadline of the Phase I of the project. While the nearby canteen for Vasanthnagar ward was opened, this remained just a shell owing to denial of permission by the Railways. Railway officials, however, said there had been no formal proposal from the State government for the land and they had documents to conclusively prove the land was theirs.
More breakfast, less dinner
Based on the initial trends in demand at Indira canteens, the BBMP has decided to hike the average breakfast numbers to 600, while reducing the dinner numbers to 300 on an average. For December, officials said, the numbers of plates served in canteens had been hiked — with the canteen near K.R. Market getting an astounding 3,300 plates of breakfast — serving nearly three times the number of customers planned initially.
A.P. wants to replicate Indira Canteen model
Indira Canteen seems to have inspired Andhra Pradesh, which is struggling to meet targets for its similar ‘Anna Canteen’ model. A delegation of officials from various municipalities — Anantapur, Chittoor, Kurnool, as well as the Director of Municipal Administration in Vijayawada — have visited the city twice to “study and understand” the Indira Canteen model. “We showed them the pre-fabrication technology which allows us to set up fast and expand, the centralised kitchens, and the menus,” said Mr. Rajan.
The centralised kitchen model of Indira Canteens was preferred by Andhra Pradesh, compared with the Amma canteens in Tamil Nadu where each canteen cooks food, leading to issues in quality control, said officials.
Mr. Prasad told The Hindu that Andhra Pradesh officials were impressed with the speed at which the canteens had been established across the city. “After the first visit, a bigger team of officials visited us again. The Indira Canteen model is unique. We are enthused that there are municipalities looking to replicate our model in their cities,” he said.
