Maharashtra Rs 10 meals: Scheme to kick off with 100 food canteens, 4,000 subsidised thalis

Meant to provide wholesome food at affordable rates, subsidised food canteens have been a runaway success, with several states, including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh, launching their own versions of Amma canteens.

In Maharashtra, the subsidised canteens will run between 12 pm and 2 pm daily, serving a full meal — two chapatis, a vegetable bowl, rice and dal — at Rs 10 a thali. While the eventual plan is to serve 18,000 subsidised thalis daily, the first 100 canteens will serve 4,000 customers. The 10 centres in Mumbai will serve 1,900 thalis.

Unlike Amma canteens, Maharashtra has chosen to run the scheme with the help of existing food canteens run by the government, women self-help groups as well as caterers located near high footfall areas such as government hospitals, government offices, state transport depots and industrial estates.

“The canteens selected under the scheme have been asked to reserve a portion of their seating arrangement, between 12 pm and 2 pm, for those availing Shiv Bhojan thalis,” Kailash Pagare, Controller of Rationing and Director of Civil Supplies (Mumbai), said.

Under the scheme, the government will pay the canteen Rs 40 per subsidised thali in cities and Rs 20 in rural belts. For the time being, the government has asked the food canteens to maintain a daily record of the beneficiaries served. But Mahesh Pathak, Principal Secretary (Food and Civil Supplies), said his department is in the process of launching a software application that will monitor the scheme’s implementation. “We are planning to launch the application, too, on January 26,” he said.

With the canteen owners suggesting that it will be difficult for them to identify the needy, the government has kept the scheme open for everyone except government employees. “We have left it on the people’s conscience, hoping that the real needy will avail the benefit,” Pathak said.

The department has earlier carried out spot inspections of all the identified food canteens with civic and food and drug administration inspectors to ensure that they possess all the required permissions to function as a lunch home.

In Mumbai, canteens being run at five civic-run hospitals — BYL Nair hospital (Mumbai Central), Sir King Edward Memorial Hospital (Parel), Lokmanya Tilak municipal general hospital (Sion), VN Desai hospital (Santacruz), RN Cooper hospital (Vile Parle) and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar municipal hospital (Kandivali) — the one at the suburban collector’s office and the municipal ward office in Ghatkopar will be among those where subsidised food will be available from January 26.