N Chandrababu Naidu to relaunch ‘Anna canteens’ scheme on Independence Day

Vijayawada : Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu-led alliance government is all set to implement the emotional promise of setting up Anna canteens across the state. These canteens will provide breakfast and meals at subsidized rates. The Chief Minister will inaugurate the first Anna canteen at Gudivada after taking part in the Independence Day celebrations on Thursday. Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan will launch an NTR Anna canteen at Kakinada. Pawan said, “It is a noble cause. No one will go to work in the morning or home in the evening hungry anymore.’’

Many Anna canteens, named after TDP founder N T Rama Rao, are being restarted at the same places where they were set up during the previous TDP regime from 2014 to 2019. Also, suitable locations are being scouted to launch new canteens. The Hare Krishna Foundation will be supplying food to Anna canteens. The menu would be different for each day and breakfast would include items like idly, upma, pongal, along with chutney, sambar and karam podi. For lunch and dinner, white rice, curry, sambar, chutney and curd will be served for Rs 5 only. It may be noted that the previous TDP government supplied food to 4.60 crore people through Anna canteens. But the YSRCP government which came to power in 2019 had shut down all canteens. Meanwhile, Nara Bhuvaneswari, wife of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, donated Rs 1 crore to Anna canteens on behalf of the NTR Trust.

She handed over a cheque for Rs 1 crore to Minister for Municipal Administration P Narayana at CM’s residence in Unadavallli on Wednesday. She recalled the motto of NTR – food, shelter and clothes to the poor.

She said that serving food for Rs 5 will help the poor and daily wage workers immensely. She thanked the NDA government for focusing on the welfare of the poor.

Minister Narayana said the Anna Canteens Charitable Trust was set up for maintaining the canteens with a special corpus fund.

Meanwhile, several people have been coming forward to donate for the Anna canteen scheme. Srinivasa Raju of SLV group donated Rs 1 crore. This will form part of the corpus fund of the trust.