Mayor wants to replicate ‘Amma canteen’ in UT

Jayalalithaa government’s popular’Amma Unavagams’, a chain of low-cost food distribution canteens run by local bodies across Tamil Nadu, continue to attract attention as a model scheme with Chandigarh being the latest in evincing keen interest to replicate it.

A 25-member delegation led by Chandigarh Municipal Corporation mayor Harphool Chander Kalyan has been impressed by the scheme under which food items such as idlies, roti and mixed rice are offered at prices ranging from as low as Rs 1 to Rs 5.

Already delegations including those from Egypt, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have visited the Amma canteens. Several municipal corporations, including Mumbai, have also shown interest in the scheme, launched by chief minister Jayalalithaa in 2013 to benefit economically poor people.

After visiting an Amma canteen here, Kalyan said they would like to replicate the scheme back home. “I liked it very much. I appreciate the corporation of Chennai for implementing it,” Kalyan told PTI after visiting the sprawling Amma canteen in the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital premises here. “We want to do it. We want to replicate it. We have studied it. We will plan and then do it,” he added.

Besides the Chandigarh mayor, senior deputy mayor Heera Negi, deputy mayor Davesh Moudgil, joint commissioner-cum-secretary Rajiv Kumar Gupta and a host of councillors and Union Territory officials were among the delegation.