HYDERABAD: The State government would now provide free meals to workers at all the construction sites in the GHMC area. Orders to this effect were issued by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar on Saturday. Currently, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation provides subsidised food to the poor at `5 a meal. The cost incurred by the corporation is `24 per meal.
However, as of now, this scheme is implemented at a limited number of locations in the GHMC area. Therefore, the Telangana Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board has proposed to implement the Annapurna scheme for building workers at sites.
These will be fully subsidised or in other words, free meals. The cost incurred would be reimbursed to the GHMC by the State government, the orders said. According to the GO, there are 8,46,326 building workers registered with the Telangana Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board. Since several workers are not getting proper meals due to the lockdown, the orders wished to address the hunger issue immediately.