BENGALURU: Breakfast, lunch or dinner, Namma Canteens are set to fill your appetite without burning a hole in your pocket. A day after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced ‘Namma Canteens’ in all 198 wards of the city, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is working out modalities to start the canteens.
Siddaramaiah has earmarked `100 crore for this scheme in his budget for 2017-18.
Speaking to Express, Mayor G Padmavathi said the details are yet to be finalised. “We might call for a tender or give it to Self Help Groups to start a Namma Canteen in each ward as announced.
I feel women Self Help Groups should be given the task which will help provide jobs for women,” she said. The menu is yet to be decided, she added.
A senior Congress leader from BBMP said there is also a suggestion to give the contract to International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
“It will come to the BBMP Council and will be discussed,” he said. He said the menu will be similar to that of Tamil Nadu’s Amma canteens. “For `5, one can get idli, upma, poha, pongal or rice bath for lunch and dinner. For `10, one can get anna-sambar, anna-rasam or mudde curry. Menu will be finalised later.”
Rama Murthy, former Secretary, Bruhat Bengaluru Hoteliers Association, said as a hotelier, he is aware that for `5 or `10 for meals, the cost will not work out without support from government.
“This will not affect darshinis or hotels as proven in Tamil Nadu,” he said. He said the government should issue a card for BPL persons, so that food is served at a subsidised rate only to those with the cards. “Otherwise, people from all classes will line up. It should serve the purpose of feeding poor,” he said.