CHENNAI: Food Minister R Sakkarapani on Tuesday urged the Union Government to bear the capital expenditure towards establishing model community kitchens being proposed across the country, along with 100 per cent recurring expenditure for foodgrains, transport, salary for staff, etc. However, the minister made it clear that these kitchens should be made open to all people in the State, and any restrictions should be avoided.
Speaking at the second meeting on the setting up of model community kitchens, which was chaired by Union Minister of State for Food and Public Distribution, Aswini Kumar Choubey at New Delhi, Sakkarapani said the land required for setting up of community kitchens could be provided by the State government and the local bodies but the capital expenditure towards the building, furniture, utensils, etc should be borne by the Union Government.
“The community kitchens are open to all the people in Tamil Nadu. Our experience has been that only the most deserving persons are coming to these facilities; hence making it restrictive based on some exclusion criteria that may not be required. In fact, in Tamil Nadu these community kitchens are open to migrant workers from other states as well,” the Minister added.
While urging the Union Government to provide at least two meals a day through these community kitchens, the Minister said, States must be given the freedom and flexibility to decide on the actual model and functioning of the community kitchens. He pointed out that for a vast country like India, any uniform system or one single model might not be desirable.