Gujarat’s expenses for Shramik Annapurna meal scheme dips up 47%
Under the Shramik Annapurna Yojana, hot and nutritious meals are served to construction workers at a very low price of Rs 5. It is one of the 20 welfare schemes run through the money collected under the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess in the state.
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The Gujarat government's expenditure on Shramik Annapurna Yojana fell by 47 per cent during the calendar year 2022. (File)The Gujarat government’s expenditure on Shramik Annapurna Yojana, where hot, nutritious meals are served to construction workers at a very low price of Rs 5, fell by 47 per cent during the calendar year 2022, the state legislature was told Thursday.
During 2021, the state government spent Rs 191.14 lakh on providing subsidised food to construction workers through dedicated kiosks set up at ‘Kadia-Nakas’ across major cities in the state. The expenditure on this scheme fell to Rs 101.29 lakh in 2022, the government stated in a written response to a question asked by Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar during the Question Hour.
The scheme, which was first launched in 2017 by the then Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, was officially relaunched in October 2022, just ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections where the cost of one subsidised meal served was reduced to Rs 5 from the earlier Rs 10.
As part of the reply, the government stated that Shramik Annapurna Yojana was one of the 20 different welfare schemes run through the money collected under the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess in the state. Apart from Annapurna Yojana, spending in most of the schemes saw a rise in 2022.
The government stated that as of December 2022, a total of Rs 4,560 crore of cess lies accumulated in the state.
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