AP - How Much Will Anna Canteens Cost to CBN's Govt ?
The Anna Canteens in andhra pradesh were recently reopened with great fanfare by the nda administration. This project was first initiated by the tdp administration, which was in power from 2014 to 2019. First established by the tdp administration in July 2018, there were 183 Anna Canteens that were up and running by July 2019. But all these canteens were closed when the ycp took over.
The TDP-JSP-BJP coalition pledged during this year's election campaign to resurrect Anna Canteens in the event that they were elected. Within two months of taking office, chief minister Nara chandrababu naidu effectively reopened the canteens throughout the state, as he had promised.
One hundred Anna Canteens were reopened across the state during the first phase. The government chose to keep providing wholesome meals for just Rs. 5, the same price as previously, in spite of the rise in raw material costs. Currently, these 100 canteens are serving an average of 1.05 lakh plates of meals three times a day with a subsidy from the government of Rs. 78.75 lakhs.
The government provides subsidies to the 100 Anna Canteens for an average of Rs. 19.68 crore per month and Rs. 236.25 crore per year. The government intends to open 103 more in the upcoming phase. It is anticipated that the 203 canteens would feed 2.13 lakh people per day. Eventually, a daily subsidy of Rs. 1.59 crore, a monthly subsidy of Rs. 39.96 crore, and an annual subsidy of Rs. 479 crore will have to be covered by the government. The nda administration has not hesitated to reopen the Anna Canteens in order to give the underprivileged access to wholesome food, even with the enormous financial load.
In the interim, money for running these canteens will be collected through the Anna Charitable Trust. nara bhuvaneshwari has already given the trust a donation of Rs. 1 crore. Additionally, Sri lakshmi Venkateshwara Developers gave Rs. 1 crore and promised to give the same amount annually. In a few days, the trust will open its website. More donations from the general public are anticipated when the website goes online.