BENGALURU: Visitors to Indira Canteens have largely given a thumbs up to the initiative, with their only issue being the quantity of food served in each plate. Quantity per plate will be increased once the system is completely streamlined, say BBMP officials. At the canteen in Langford Town in the Shanti Nagar ward, some visitors contemplated buying another plate after they finished one and were still left hungry.
Raghu, the supervisor of the canteen, admitted the quantity was less, and said for this price, the quantity couldn’t be increased any further. At the canteen in Banashankari Temple ward too, some customers were dissatisfied with the amount of food in a plate but didn’t buy another plate as that would mean standing in the queue again.
The problem is more pronounced at canteens which get a high footfall. For instance, the canteen in Shanthala Nagar ward on Commissariat Road has seen a high stream of visitors since the first day.
A BBMP official said they had asked for extra food from other canteens to be sent there to meet the demand. The official has also requested the kitchen to send more food. He said, “Due to the canteen’s central location, many people come here, including a lot of auto drivers. The quantity will be increased. Even now, we tell people they can take another helping if they weren’t satisfied with the quantity.”
BBMP Special Commissioner for the Indira Canteen project Manoj Rajan said each plate was meant to have 300g of rice and 100g of curd rice. “Due to too many visitors at some canteens, the Joint Commissioners there, in their wisdom, suggested reducing the quantity so that more people could eat,” he said. He added that after two weeks, standard bowls to measure 300g and 100g would be provided at all canteens and food would be served only from them.To ensure the supply of food meets the demand, the palike has implemented a ‘dynamic pooling information system,’ wherein officials from every canteen will collect the actual number of visitors every day.“This will enable us to assess the actual demand in the canteen and help us make better decisions on increasing or decreasing the meals-per-canteen count,” Rajan said.