BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Tuesday asked the Housing and Urban Development Department to complete infrastructure facilities for the new Aahar centres by February 25.
Chief Secretary (CS) Aditya Prasad Padhi reviewed the progress of construction of 57 Aahar centres in 29 districts at a high-level meeting here.
While 21 Aahar centres are operational in fives cities of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Berhampur and Rourkela in the first phase from April 1, 2015, the State Government last month decided to extend the food security programme to all the districts from March 2016.
The centres are being set up at district headquarters, hospitals and industrial towns with the help of eligible funding agencies. It has been decided to serve about 30,300 meals every day in these centres, official sources said.
The Chief Secretary directed the Collectors to complete necessary infrastructure facilities including construction of kitchen sheds, supply of electricity, drinking water supply, transportation, training, sanitation and other allied activities within the stipulated time. Earlier, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had set February 15 as the deadline.
Almost all districts have expedited their programmes like choosing partners to implementing agencies, sources in the Urban Development Department said.
Aahar was a subsidised meal scheme of the State Government for the urban poor and Aahar centres provide cooked lunch comprising rice and ‘dalma’ at the rate of ` five between 11 am to 3 pm at specific locations.
The scheme is presently being sponsored by Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, Odisha Power Generation Corporation in Rourkela and Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation in Sambalpur.