Anna canteens super hit: Chandrababu Naidu

Tirupati: Anna canteens provide nutritious food at very affordable prices for the poor especially for labourers and getting overwhelming response, said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. He inaugurated the first Anna canteen in Tirupati on Friday, which will provide food for 500 people daily.

Later addressing the media, he said that if needed Tirupati Municipal Corporation limits will be extended to make it a mega city. With all round development of the city, the government has been committed to make it number one city in the country which has already secured various top ranks under most liveable city, safest city, Swacch rail - Swacch Bharat rankings.

On Anna canteens he said all such canteens have a same design and same quality and meant for poor people who work for daily wages. These canteens provide quality and nutritious food at very nominal rates through which labourers can save their earnings. The staff at Anna canteens treat the visitors with respect and good manners. The idea was to provide food with respect to the poor, the Chief Minister stressed.

Terming the scheme as ‘Super Hit’, Naidu has said they will never compromise on the quality. “We will link up technology to the scheme and take corrective measures wherever necessary. Till now, we were getting appreciations from everyone which should be taken forward in a logical way”, he said.

In Tirupati total five Anna canteens will come up and two have completed. In the State 303 canteens were planned with each constituency to get one each whereas urban centres like Tirupati will have more. He has listed out various welfare schemes like Chandranna Bima under which government will provide Rs.5 lakhs to those who lost their lives in accidents and for normal deaths Rs.2 lakhs. NTR Bharosa provides Rs.1000 pension per month to 52 lakh people every month and Rs.500 for physically challenged.

All these schemes have helped in increasing the satisfactory levels of people. From October 2 unemployed youth will get dole and they will also be given skill training. Free power will be given to SCs and STs, he said.

As Tirupati draws one lakh people every day, government has been giving utmost importance to the city. The Zoo park will have more facilities in the coming days and a botanical garden will be established. More safaris will soon attract the visitors at Zoo park. With the completion of Balaji and Mallemadugu reservoirs, the city will have no water scarcity and people will have more amenities under smart city initiative, Chandrababu stated.

Minister for Municipal Administration P Narayana, Collector PS Pradyumna, Joint Collector PS Girisha, Commissioner V Vijayarama Raju, TUDA Chairman G Narasimha Yadav and others participated.

The CM has arrived almost two hours late in the temple city and he skipped Anna canteen inauguration programme and participated in cancer centre ground breaking ceremony. Later, he left for Chittoor to attend other programmes there and on his return, he inaugurated the canteen in the evening before leaving for Vijayawada.