Indira Canteens: A White elephant for govt, management

The Indira Canteens, launched by the previous Congress government led by Siddaramaiah, is slowly turning out to be a white elephant, both for the government and the contractors.

Not just the canteens are running under losses, sources in Mayur Aaditya Resorts, which maintains the nine Indira Canteens in twin cities since last six months, claim that they have not received even a single paise for the last six months from the government. The management is supposed to get Rs 1.20 crore from the government.

The first of the nine canteens were launched in Hubballi-Dharwad on September 11, 2018. Of the 12 canteens that were sanctioned under the Hubballi-Dharwad Mahanagara Palike (HDMP), only nine are functioning, while the remaining three are yet to find a land to start.

In the twin cities, the Indira canteens, which serve breakfast at Rs 5, and lunch and dinner at Rs 10 each, are slowly but steadily losing their popularity among people, resulting in losses to the contractors running the show.

Sources say that in January alone, the Mayur Aaditya Resorts has sustained a loss of Rs 7.5 lakh, as they could not serve 500 plates of breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the last month, which is mandatory. This has been a trend for the last few months, sources added.

“We are literally running from pillar to post to get our funds released,” said a source in Mayur Aaditya Resorts, who did not wish to be named. After months of perusal, the district administration has now agreed to release 30% of the pending amount. “We are really repenting for taking up this contract,” said another executive of Mayur Aaditya Resorts.

No ones child

Congress leaders, who inaugurated these canteens, which are named after their ‘favourite’ leader Indira Gandhi, with much fanfare are now not showing any interest in getting the funds released for the subsidised eateries, from the government. While, the BJP that is power at the HDMP is least interested in footing the bill, and has clearly stated that it has no funds to run these canteens.

It may be mentioned here that while the State government would pay 30% of the running cost, the HDMP had to pay the remaining 70% of the cost.

The present coalition government earlier had stated that the Labour Department will foot 30% of the Indira Canteens bill, while the remaining amount will be borne by the respective urban bodies.

In the twin cities case, the HDMP had to pay the bill. However, the Palike moved a resolution against this and decided against paying the remaining 70% bill. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah, during his one of the visit to Hubballi, had assured that he would talk with Chief Minister Kumaraswamy and ensure that the State government takes the responsibility of running the canteens.

But, nothing has moved since then, and the canteen contractors continue to run them without financial payment from government.

Low footfall

Of the nine Indira canteens, only four have high footfall.

The canteens at New Bus Stand and Mini Vidhan Soudha in Dharwad receive on an average 400 people per breakfast/lunch/dinner.

In Hubballi, the Indira Canteen at Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), and Gokul Road canteen have a good footfall. On Fridays, the canteen at New English School hardly gets any visitors, while the Bengeri canteen has the maximum number of visitors on Saturday, as there is sandy at the ground next to it.

Generally, Wednesday and Sunday are the least visitors' day at all the canteens.

Loot in the name of Indira: BJP HDMP senior Corporator and BJP leader Veeranna Savadi has charged that the previous Congress government started the Indira Canteens to loot the public money, in their leader's name. None of the nine canteens in twin cities are serving 1,500 plates of breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. But, the government has to pay them the entire bill. "The HDMP has made it clear earlier also, and we continue to state the same that the Palike will not pay a single paisa for these canteens as we do not have funds," he said. He predicted that the canteens would soon get closed.