Anna canteen, a non-starter in CM’s native district

Chittoor: Anna canteen, the brain child of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who launched over 68 Anna canteens in the state on August 11, has remained a non-starter in his native district due to various reasons. It was decided to construct 17 Anna canteen buildings some two months ago in Chittoor district.

According to sources, Nagarjuna Constructions Ltd has taken over the responsibility of constructing Anna canteen buildings, Tirupati (5), Chittoor (3), Madanapalli (3), Srikalahasthi (2), and one each in Punganur, Palamaner, Puttur and Nagari municipal towns. Instructions were also given to respective municipal commissioners to keep ready the Anna canteen buildings on or before August 10 under any circumstances.

Though the Chief Minister was supposed to inaugurate all the proposed 17 Anna canteens in Chittoor district on August 11, due to non-completion of buildings, no single canteen was inaugurated. It is learnt the construction of one Anna canteen building was completed each in Chittoor, Tirupati and Srikalahasthi civic centres and the rest are in various  stages of progress.

The selection of site has become a challenging task for respective municipalities for constructing Anna canteen buildings. Moreover, the responsibility of constructing Anna canteen buildings was vested with the respective municipal commissioners alone. However, Collector P S Pradyumna  instructed the respective municipal commissioners to finalise the sites first and start constructing Anna canteen buildings at the earliest.

Speaking to The Hans India here on Wednesday, Chittoor Municipal  Commissioner P Obulesh admitted that securing government site for constructing Anna canteen buildings become a herculean task for municipal cities and towns in the district.

“We have finalised one site at Chittoor RTC bus station and the other at Chittoor Government Hospital. Though the ground level work was completed for the two, the Chittoor APSRTC and Government Hospital authorities have refused to construct Anna canteen buildings in their respective sites,” he added. He assured that Anna canteen situated in ITI grounds in Chittoor would commence from August 20 onwards.