CHENNAI: The state government has allotted Rs 21 crore to enhance and ensure seamless functioning of the 388 Amma Unavagams (Amma Canteens) across Chennai. The allocation includes Rs 7 crore for replacing damaged utensils and Rs 14 crore for renovating them.
Chief Minister MK Stalin directed the MLAs, ministers and local body representatives to regularly inspect the Amma Unavagams in their localities and offer necessary help.
The directive of Stalin follows an unannounced inspection carried out by the chief minister at the Amma Unavagam at Teynampet on Friday. He was accompanied by the newly appointed Chennai Corporation Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran.
The visit came in the backdrop of concerns that the Unavagams, one of the flagship initiatives of the AIADMK government headed by late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, were not being run properly allegedly due to lack of funds.
After the visit, Stalin, in a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), said rumours were doing the rounds that the Amma Unavagams would be shut after the present DMK government came to power. However, he said the present government has spent more than Rs 450 crore in the last three years, serving food to more than ` lakh persons a day.
Of the 407 canteens in Chennai, as per a recent official statement, 388 are functional at the moment. A month ago, when TNIE visited 37 canteens, it found at least five closed and nine not operating regularly. The reasons included low customer turnout, with some staff reporting that they were serving as few as 25 people a day. Moreover, 12 canteens, which had been constructed over storm water drains, were demolished by the corporation following floods. The number of customers in many other canteens had also declined to 100 and 150 daily.
The staff at Amma Unavagam have complained over no change in the menu, which they say, has led to a decline in both the number of customers and sales. A 44-year-old employee at the Amma Unavagam in Kaladipet said, “In the early days of the initiative, 18 people had been working at this Amma Unavagam. However, only 10 are working now due to the drop in sales. While initially, the turnover per month was Rs 1.2 lakh, it has come down to Rs 50,000 and sometimes even less.”
After 11 years of the start of the initiative, employees of Amma Unavagam recently received their first salary increase, from Rs 300 to Rs 325 per day. However, they claim the increase is insufficient. Staff also reported that their salaries often get delayed by 15 to 30 days.
According to an official release, the present government, since May 2021, has spent Rs 148.4 crore towards wages of members of SHGs running the canteens since 2021. Apart from this, Rs 400 crore from Chennai corporation and another Rs 69 crore from the state government as subsidy for rice and wheat were allocated to these canteens.