Amma Canteens chain to be expanded in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Sunday announced the setting up of 360 new Amma Canteens - subsidised food outlets - across the state taking total number to 654 outlets.

With the expansion of Amma Canteen, lakhs of poor people would be benefited because of the low-cost food sold at these outlets, Jayalalithaa said in a statement here.

The 360 new outlets would come up in Chennai, government hospitals located in district headquarters - barring Madurai, Vellore, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin - and other places.

Currently, there are 294 Amma Canteens in the state, bulk of which or 203 are here.

In Chennai, the Amma Canteens sell idli at Re.1 and pongal at Rs.5 in the morning and in the afternoon sambhar/lemon/curry leaves rice for Rs.5 per plate and curd rice for Rs.3 per plate. In the evenings, two chappatis and dal is sold for Rs.3.

At the outlets located outside Chennai, only idli, pongal, sambhar and curd rice are sold alone.

An official team from Egypt Saturday visited Amma Canteens here to learn about the scheme and their operation.