BENGALURU: The state government seems to be working on a tight deadline to set up Indira Canteens in the city ahead of their inauguration on Independence Day. With just 11 days left, only 70 out of the planned 125 canteens are ready.Work on the canteens picked up only by late June after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in March announced the concept of Namma Canteens. In May, the CM had a review meeting with BBMP officials and the design of the canteen was finalised.
The following month, Mayor G Padmavathi and her team made a visit to a manufacturing unit in Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu that makes pre-fabricated panels to be used for the canteens. By third week of June, fabrication panels started arriving in Bengaluru.
A senior BBMP official said in the review meeting the chief minister had directed officials to complete fabrication by July 15. The CM had proposed one canteen in each of the 198 wards in the city. The pre-fabricated panels are transported using cranes. “In some spaces marked for the canteens, lanes are so narrow that cranes can’t be used. In some localities, we have had to stop power supply due to construction work and residents resisted,” the official added.
The official added there are also legal hurdles. On July 24, a PIL was filed against chopping of trees for the construction of an Indira Canteen on a plot of land belonging to BDA in Rajajinagar 3rd Block. The matter is pending before the high court.The state government also scaled down its target from 198 canteens to 125. “On August 15, 125 canteens will be inaugurated and the remaining will be opened by October 2,” the official said.BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad told Express that 70 out of 125 canteens are ready. “The remaining are under various stages of construction,” he said.
