BENGALURU: Here’s some good news for fish lovers. The Department of Fisheries is planning to start fish canteens at 100 places across Bengaluru. A full fish meal at these canteens will cost around Rs 100. There’s more. The consumers will have options to choose from 24 varieties of fish dishes including soup, fish curry, rice and pickle starters.
Fisheries Minister S Angara told The New Indian Express, “We wanted to start a canteen in each ward in Bengaluru. To begin with, we are starting the canteens at 100 places in the city. In collaboration with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), we will set up outlets where meals will be made available besides putting fish on sale,” he said.
The department already runs Mathsya Darshini restaurants at a few places including at Cubbon Park in Bengaluru, and in Ballari, Shivamogga and Mangaluru. As of now, the canteen at Cubbon Park charges Rs 130 for one full fish meal.
Centralised kitchen to fire fish meal
Angara said that to keep the taste and price of these meals uniform at all places, a centralised kitchen will be set up from where food will be supplied to these canteens.
He pointed out that through this initiative, the department is also looking at generating employment for youth. “We are yet to finalise whether to run this on Private Public Partnership (PPP) model or through government grants,” he said.
The state government has also not yet fixed the price of the meals. “We are finalising the places where these canteens will be set up” he added. The initiative will also give a boost to fishermen as the demand for fish will go up if people start consuming it more. A city like Bengaluru has been chosen as there are a large number of people who consume seafood, the minister said.
The state government also has plans to set up such canteens in other districts. “Once we cover Bengaluru, we will set up similar canteens in other urban areas (corporation limits),” he added.