After Rs. 5 meal scheme, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is all set to introduce the Re.1 breakfast scheme in the coming weeks.
The GHMC Standing Committee chaired by Mayor Mohammed Majid Hussain has approved the proposal on offering breakfast at Re. 1 and issued instructions to the officials to initiate steps necessary for implementation.
At present, Rs. 5 meal scheme for the poor is offered at nine centres and the numbers are to be increased to 50 by Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. The idea is to introduce the breakfast scheme at the existing meals centres and then expand it along with new meals centres that are getting ready for inauguration.
“We, from the Standing Committee, have given approval for implementation of the breakfast scheme and it will be taken up at the earliest,” Mr. Majid Hussain said. Subsidised breakfast at nine centres can start immediately with officials taking up the process of tender and related activities for adding it to 41 new centres which are getting ready to offer meals, he said. For the breakfast, the menu would rotate each day with upma, idly, puri and so on.
Estimates suggested each plate of the breakfast costing around Rs. 8 to Rs.9 and the Mayor said, even if the civic body has to take care of Rs. 8 subsidy after charging Re.1, it would not be a big burden. “If 15,000 poor persons avail the scheme, we will be spending Rs.1.20 lakh per day on subsidy,” he added.
The Rs.5 meal scheme has already become hugely popular by serving 450 gm rice, 100 gm dal, 150 gm curry and a spoon of pickle. Each meal costs Rs. 20 and the GHMC provides a subsidy of Rs.15 for which it has earmarked Rs.11 crore budget.
FULFILLING FOOD
The GHMC’s Rs. 5 meal scheme, in association with Hare Krishna Akshaya Patra Foundation, is already popular in the city.
Subsidised meals being provided at nine centres at Nampally, Charminar, Sanathnagar, Gudi Malkapur, Mehdipatnam, Koti, GHMC Head Office, L.B.Nagar and Secunderabad Clock Tower
Forty-one more meals centres to be ready by October 2
GHMC Standing Committee approves introduction of breakfast at Re.1 at these centres
Idly, Upma, Puri and other items to be provided
“Subsidised breakfast at Re.1 could mean an annual budget of Rs. 5 crore and the GHMC is capable of taking this cost for the sake of the city’s poor” Mohammed Majid Hussain, Mayor.
“The Rs. 5 meals centres are being strengthened and we are working at making all the proposed 50 centres operational by Gandhi Jayanti” Somesh Kumar, GHMC Commissioner
