Keeping with the election promises made before the recent assembly polls, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party national president Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s NDA government rolled out another people’s centric scheme Anna Canteens on the eve of Independence Day. Naidu along with his wife Bhuvaneshwari, son Nara Lokesh and some ministers inaugurated the first Anna Canteen in Gudivada today afternoon. A total of 100 Canteens will start functioning from Friday all over the state.
The scheme, which was launched during Naidu’s previous stint as CM in 2017, was put on the back burner immediately after YS Jagan Mohan Reddy assumed charge of the state in 2019. After nearly five years, Anna Canteens have been reopened to feed the poor people all over the state at a meagre price of five rupees per meal everyday. The present government decided to revive the canteens and serve food at the same price like it did earlier.
Naidu and others who attended the inauguration tasted food in the canteen to check the quality and amenities made available by the ministry concerned. They also served the food to the people there. Naidu said that the government initially planned to reopen 203 on the same day. However, due to pending renovation works, only half of them could be opened today. He assured that all remaining canteens will be opened shortly.
Anna Canteens will provide 1.05 lakh meals everyday all over the state. From Morning breakfast to evening meals, 35 thousand meals will be served per session. The Menu consists of Idli, Puri, Pongal, Upma along chutneys and curries as breakfast items. For lunch and dinner, the canteens will provide rice, dal, sambar, chutney and curd everyday from Monday to Saturday. Sunday is a holiday for these Canteens. They will remain open from Morning 07:30 to 10:00, afternoon 12:30 to 3:00 pm and night 07:30 to 09:00 pm.