5 a meal all set to hit a crore mark

​Hyderabad: Barely three years into implementation of the subsidised meal scheme launched by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, it is all set to hit one crore mark during the current financial year.

According to sources in the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department, the scheme has been silently making inroads and it has become a most sought-after among the poor eking a living on daily wages in the twin cities.

It has led to people from urban areas like Warangal, Karimnagar demanding that scheme be replicated in their places too. “This is, in addition to the demands coming from within the GHMC areas for more meals centres,” said a senior official.

The scheme was launched in March 2014 with 50 centres to provide subsidised launch for Rs 5 on the lines of Amma Canteens introduced by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha in that State.

Currently there are about 110 meals centres in twin cities and the State government has already given its clearance to increase the same to 150 during the current financial year. At present a total of 22,000 beneficiaries are availing themselves of the scheme daily.

With the opening of new centres the number of beneficiaries a day is likely to go up to 34,000 which come to a little over one core during the current financial year, the sources added.

The State government is weighing the options in regard to opening subsidised meal centres in other urban areas. The government, according to officials, is assessing the feasibility of opening such centres in other urban areas.

On the popularity of the scheme, All Hamali’s Union State secretary P Sudhkar said “the lunch provides rice, three curries, Sambaar, pickle at Rs 5. Mostly it is availed by daily wage earners in the shops, building construction workers, auto- rickshaw drivers and others.” We have already asked for more centres in several market areas in the Begam Bazaar and other places, he said.