AP to draw up new policy for running 'Anna Canteens'

Days after declaring that the 'Anna Canteens', set up by the previous TDP dispensation, were not discontinued, a state minister Thursday said it has decided to frame a new policy for running it.

Municipal Administration minister Botcha Satyanarayana, who on July 30 told the State Assembly that the Anna Canteens were not discontinued, said in a statement the government has decided to draw up a new policy for running the canteens.

"We have no thought of closing down the canteens.

We have only decided to make them more accessible to people and, accordingly, we are taking steps to rectify the shortcomings in their maintenance," the minister said in a statement, as the canteens reportedly remained non-functional for the past couple of days.

The then TDP government had launched the Anna Canteen across Andhra Pradesh ahead of the recent Lok Sabha and the assembly polls.

In all 182 Anna Canteens, named after former Chief Minister late N T Rama Rao, were established in towns and cities across the state.

After the YSR Congress party came to power, the yellow colour of the canteen buildings was changed to white.

There is also reportedly a proposal to rename the canteens after Chief Minister Jagans father, late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

"Let them change the name, we have no objection. But, 20,000 people have been rendered jobless while lakhs of poor people are deprived of daily food due to closure of the canteens," TDP MLAs A Satya Prasad and M Giri said on Friday.

YSRC Parliamentary Party leader V Vijayasai Reddy alleged that the previous Chandrababu Naidu government looted in the name of providing food at low price to the poor.

"Its a Rs 150 crore scam. The Chandrababu Naidu government established these canteens only to lure people ahead of the elections.

For each canteen that could be built for Rs two lakh, Rs 30-50 lakh was spent," the Rajya Sabha member said in a tweet Friday.

The Municipal Administration minister said the canteens did not give intended results as they were set up without proper planning.

"Bills of over Rs 50 crore related to the construction of canteen buildings remain unpaid.Payment of Rs 40 crore towards food supplied was also kept pending for the last six months," the minister said.

Of the 182 canteens, only 68 were actually in right places accessible to people, Satyanarayana said.

"A lot of public money has been wasted by building canteens in inaccessible places. They should have set them up near bus stations, railway stations and hospitals for more people to avail of its services.

We will now come out with a new policy to rectify such lapses," he added.