The difficulty in finding ideal plots of land for Indira Canteens in several wards has forced the State government to climb down from its earlier goal of inaugurating all 198 canteens by Independence Day. As the deadline approaches, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday revised the target: 125 canteens will open by August 15 and the remaining 73 on Gandhi Jayanthi (October 2).
According to officials, the non-availability of suitable land sites for canteens in 16 wards is one of the hurdles. Of the 87 sites owned by various other government departments identified to build canteens, the civic body has got only 36 sites, with 51 more yet to be handed over to it to date. “We are 25 days away from the Independence Day deadline and we haven’t even got possession of 67 sites yet, which will make building the canteens by then an uphill task,” Manoj Rajan, Special Commissioner heading the Indira Canteen Special Task Force, said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah, who chaired a multi-agency meeting on Friday and reviewed the progress of work, procurement of equipment and caterers, took to task officials from various departments who were yet to hand over proposed sites for the canteens. He issued stern orders to departments to hand over these sites in the next three days.
The construction of 91 canteens is being undertaken by KEF Infra Ltd, the firm building the canteens with pre-cast elements. Of the 91 sites, construction has begun on 72, which will be completed in another five days. After this, the construction of the rest will be taken up, sources said.
