Reality Check on Indira Canteens

The whirlwind tour of the city by Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar for a reality check on Indira Canteens has highlighted several inconvenient facts about the flagship welfare scheme of the previous (2013-18) Siddaramaiah Government in Karnataka.

The canteens which were inaugurated on August 16, 2017 by the then Congress President Rahul Gandhi suffered official neglect during the last four years as the intervening Bharatiya Janata Party government starved them of funds.

The promise decision by the new Congress government to relaunch them by sprucing up the locales and improving the quality of food would be welcomed as the eateries cater to the needs of the lowest of the low among society by serving hot, healthy and nutritious food at highly subsidized rates.

Though officials have been complaining of lack of patronage by people, it defies logic as Bengaluru currently hosts a vast menial workforce drawn from several states.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has announced allocation of Rs 100 crore for the upgradation of the canteens in the recent state Budget and has also announced increasing their number to 250 in the city.

He has even hinted that the authorities would explore opportunities to open such eateries in other cities and towns of the state. Patterned after Amma Canteens started by Jayalalithaa in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, the Karnataka Government had set up 101 such canteens in various parts of Bengaluru.

Later 15 such mobile canteens too were added under the scheme. But around the middle of the tenure of the previous government, several units were shut down.

There were reports of BWSSB cutting down water connections to several units which had not paid the water bills as the BBMP owed Rs 2 crore to the BWSSB alone.

The 15 mobile units were disbanded soon thereafter. In 2017-18 and 2018-2019, the then government had allocated 100 crore and 145 crore, respectively. The BJP govt did not allocate any funds during the 2019-20 and 2020- 21 citing financial crunch.

The BBMP could allocate only Rs. 60 crore during these years as part of its commitment. Evidently, it was a case of sidelining of a scheme started by the political rivals.

Consequently, food supplies were discontinued by vendors—ChefTalk, Rewards and Adamya Chetana, who complained of non-clearance of bills and cited huge outstanding payments.

They had been supplying food at the rate of Rs. 55 for three meals a day. Reeling under the financial stringency, the food quality declined and clientele dropped.

The previous BJP government had raised objections against the canteens being named after Indira Gandhi and planned to rename them.

But they dropped the idea following a threat of agitation from the Congress party but did to the scheme what they could not do with the name.

In neighbouring Tamil Nadu, the Amma canteens are being run despite the change of the party holding the reins of the government. A pro-poor scheme should not be allowed to suffer for having been started by political adversaries.