The previous Chandrababu Naidu Government started the Anna Canteens Scheme under which the canteens offer meals throughout the day at a highly subsidized rate of Rs 5.
Around 200 such canteens were established throughout the state and each canteen used to serve between 5,000 to 10,000 meals daily.
The maintenance of the canteens and food supply was earlier entrusted to ISKCON, which had charged ₹73 per head per day, of which the government bore ₹58 as subsidy.
About 2.25 lakh people utilized these canteens every day, and a total of 4,60,31,600 meals were served.
The scheme used to benefit the poor so much but after coming to power in 2019, Jagan Mohan Reddy canceled the scheme.
Many even asked Jagan to continue the scheme by renaming it but he chose to ignore it. The beautiful Anna Canteen buildings were completely ignored in the last five years.
A few became Ward Secretariats and most of them were left unused.
They used to become shelters for anti-social elements and drunkards. Because of the utter neglect of the officials, fans, tube lights and even furniture were stolen.
The officials did not even make an attempt to protect the property.
Now, the scheme will be restarted from August 15th and the renovation of the depilated buildings is going on.
In the picture, we can see the plight of Anna Canteen in Kurnool City. The canteen which addressed the hunger of 1000s has become a witness to Jagan’s neglect and destruction.
Around 180 Anna Canteens will be operational from August 15th. Kurnool Anna Canteen will be one of them.
