Chandrababu Naidu seeks donations for Anna canteens

Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu asked the philanthropists to give donations for Anna canteens. The Chief Minister inaugurated the Anna canteen at RTC workshop near Vidyadharapuram and had the lunch at the canteen on Wednesday.

Later, addressing the media at A Convention Centre here, the Chief Minister said that the government started Anna canteens for providing food to the poor in the society.

The donors can book food items some days in advance to supply to the poor free of cost on the occasions like birthdays and other functions. The names of donors would be displayed at canteens, he said and added that the special dishes could also be supplied as per their orders.

Naidu said that the government would open 203 Anna canteens in all over the state by August 15. The poor people should not suffer for lack of food he said and added that the maintenance of canteens had been handed over to voluntary organisation Akshayapatra.

The Chief Minister said that the government would provide food for nearly 2.25 lakh people per day through these subsidised outlets where best quality food items would be served. “The government will monitor food quality by getting feedback from public. Drop boxes, air conditioning facility and CC TV cameras will also be set up in canteens,” he said.

Stating that employees could also have food from these canteens, he said that the government was bearing subsidy of Rs 24 on each meal served in the outlet. He hoped that the canteens would create history and lamented that the Opposition parties were criticising the government though the it had initiated various welfare programmes.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said that he was ready to clean the roads, if necessary. Expressing satisfaction over the ongoing development works in towns, he said that some people were throwing papers on roads without any discipline. He said that sometimes he feels getting down from his vehicle to collect and drop the papers in dustbins.

Urging people to maintain cleanliness, he said that several cities had established good record in maintaining cleanliness. The government launched schemes for generating power from garbage, he said. Stating that the government also introduced various welfare schemes, he said five lakh houses would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 32,000 crore.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said that the government would launch a new app for solving public grievances. He said that the people could get many of their problems solved through their mobile. The voice message also could solve grievances, he said and added that the government was giving priority to the technology.

Police Housing Board chairman Nagul Meera donated Rs 2 lakh, Krishna district ZP chairperson Gadde Anuradha donated Rs 1 lakh, Poornachandra Rao donated 10 tonnes vegetables and some other leaders also reacted positively and donated money for Anna canteens on the occasion .