Anna Canteens See Record Footfall So Far

Chandrababu Naidu Government has restarted the Anna Canteens that were forced close in the previous Government. In Anna Canteens, they serve breakfast/lunch/dinner at just 5 Rupees.

Currently, 207 of them are operational in Urban Areas and are serving 2.10 Lakh Meals daily. So far, 8.8 Crore people have availed the services of Anna Canteens.

It will cost 54 Lakh Rupees per day. Majority of that is borne by the Government via subsidy and in some instances, donors also donate.

So far, the Government has spent a whopping 243 Crore on this scheme. Plans are on to expand the scheme to rural areas as well. The Anna Canteens in the Rural areas will cost 58 Crore Rupees to the Government. This is easily the most meaningful government scheme ever. 

The numbers alone speak how much this scheme is popular and how it satiated the hunger of the poor and needy. It is really callous on the part of Jagan Mohan Reddy to stop such a noble scheme. Probably, things like this added up and contributed to his defeat in 2024.

Incidentally, Kiran Kumar Reddy Government in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh started a similar scheme in the name of Annapurna Canteens in the GHMC area for the Urban Poor. The KCR Government continued the scheme under the same name. KCR even expanded the number of such canteens.

Revanth Reddy Government is also continuing the scheme under a different name (Indiramma Canteens) and extended the scope to have sitting as well.

Jagan Mohan Reddy should have change the name to YSR Canteens and continued them. But he chose to stop them.