Naidu to launch Anna Canteens in AP à la Amma Canteens

 

A day after asking the Telugu Desam party workers to derive inspiration from  Jayalalitha and Mamta in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal respectively, Naidu announced that his government would soon launch  budget canteen in Andhra Pradesh on the lines of the ‘Amma Canteens’ (Amma Vunavagam) of Chennai  soon.

 

Naidu was thoroughly impressed by the performance of Jayalalithaa and Mamta in Tamil Naidu and West Bengal respectively.

 

He told party cadre on Friday that the TDP could remain in power for ever, if they worked taking inspiration from governments of MP, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. And on Saturday he revived the long forgotten scheme. Party leaders commented Jaya Effect.

 

In fact, the starting the budget  canteens, named as Anna Canteens after NTR, was Naidu’s first set of assurances made to the people immediately after joining the office on June 8, 2014.

 

The project went into limbo due to changed approach towards welfare schemes.

Buoyed by the success of Amma Canteens, Naidu dispatched a group of ministers and officials to Chennai in September 2014 to study Amma Canteens and the model adopted by Jayalalithaa. 

 

The AP government then proposed to serve region specific food in Rayalaseema, Coastal Andhra and North Coastal Andhra menus.

 

Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Paritala Sunitha, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, P. Narayana and Minister for Agriculture, Prattipati Pulla Rao,   Director of Municipal Administration, Director of Civil Supplies, Ananthapur District Collector,Vishakhapatnam Joint Collector, Guntur District Collector and the Chittoor District Collector visited Amma Canteens and studied the system adopted by Chennai Municipal Corporation for replication of the scheme in AP. 

 

The government proposed to launch five Anna Canteens in Ananthapur, 15 in Vishakhapatnam, 10 in Guntur and five in Chittoor.

 

The project was shelved when TDP ministers began launching ‘Chandranna’ welfare schemes in the state.

 

According to sources, the budget canteen scheme had been scrapped after the civil supplies department launched 'Chandranna Kanuka' scheme- distribution of a kit containing essential commodities needed for celebration of festivals like Christmas, Pongala and Eid.

 

The Chandranna Kanuka for each the Pongal levied a huge burden of Rs 340 crore on the tax-payer. The scheme turned into a nightmare for Naidu as the contractors supplied substandard Ghee and other commodities. In many districts poor refused lift the kits and the food staled in godowns.

 

Now following Jayalalithaa’s win and the role played by Amma Canteens in AIADMK’s second win in series, Naidu has decided to revive the program soon. Paying tributes to NTR on his birth anniversary on Saturday at Mahanadu, Chandrababu Naidu announced that the government would soon start Anna Canteens across the state for the benefit of poor workers.