Hare Krishna and the Akshaya Pathra Foundation would provide a meal consisting of rice, dal, sambar and pickle for Rs 5.
People having the '5 meal at Nampally Sarai in Hyderabad on Sunday. - P. Surendra
Hyderabad- The subsidised mid-day meal sold for Rs 5 by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation was a big hit with the people who turned up at the Nampally Railway station, where the scheme was launched on a pilot basis. However, access to the food was not hassle free.
“Khana accha hain, par bohat bheed tha (the food was good but the place was crowded),” said Kishan a painter, who visited the place and had the meal along with fellow workers. He, however, said they had to wait for about half an hour till the crowd cleared. Over 300 people turned up at the mid-day meal programme.Hare Krishna and the Akshaya Pathra Foundation which serve food at Niloufer and Osmania General Hospital under a similar scheme, would provide a meal consisting of rice, dal, sambar and pickle for Rs 5.
GHMC commissioner Somesh Kumar said a mid-day meal of 450 gm rice, 100 gm dal, sambar and pickles costing around Rs 20 is being supplied by the GHMC for Rs 5 to the poor. The same meal costs around Rs 40 to Rs 50 in hotels. The GHMC will examine 50 more centres in the city for the meal scheme, and based on response more centres will be opened and funds allocated, he added.
A budget of Rs11 crore has been allocated for 2014-15 and GHMC plans to cover BPL people in Greater Hyderabad.
The GHMC will identify places where the poor are more like like slums, bus and railway stations and set up centres for the scheme. GHMC Mayor Mohd. Majid Hussain, deputy mayor G. Rajkumar and other local leaders and officials attended the programme.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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