BENGALURU: The state government plans to start Indira canteens in all 198 wards in the city on August 15.
Announcing this at a press conference on Tuesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he has given strict instructions to officials to ensure that all the Indira canteens begin operating simultaneously.
Siddaramaiah, who held a meeting on Tuesday with ministers and officials about the modalities of operating the canteens, said it has been decided that the BBMP will manage the canteens. He added that places have been identified in all the wards for these canteens.
“Each canteen will be roughly 500 sqft and the construction of each canteen will cost a minimum of Rs 7.5 lakh. We will spend Rs 15 crore for this. We have also received 671 responses from the public for the logo design and 177 responses for the building design,” he said.
A committee has been formed consisting of ministers K J George and U T Khader, BBMP mayor, deputy mayor and the BBMP commissioner among others. This committee will take a final call on the logo and the building design. The panel had also been entrusted with the responsibility of identifying the agencies that will supply food. The entire process is expected to take another three months.
Siddaramaiah said there will be multiple agencies to supply food. “There will be one kitchen for every assembly ward and there will be multiple agencies. Let there be competition. But we will not compromise on quality,” he said.
The government will also look at the Tamil Nadu model of Amma Canteens to decide how best to run the canteens and the amount to be paid to the agencies. It will also look at how a similar system for pourakarmikas is being managed and whether the same can be applied to the canteens.
One has to pay Rs 5 for breakfast at the canteen while lunch and dinner will cost Rs 10.
Siddaramaiah said that a lot of importance will be given to making the food delicious and added that ISKCON had to be ruled out as they do not use onion and garlic.
“They are doing an excellent job in providing food for other schemes, but we need this (canteen) food to have a little spice. It should not be monotonous,” the CM said.