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On any working day, the Amma canteens dish out only 3.01 lakh idlis, 1.04 lakh pieces of chappatis and 88,000 plates of rice, which is at least 60 per cent less than the supplies last year
It is the first working day of the week. At 7am, the normally crowded eatery inside a building owned by Chennai corporation, at West Mambalam, is deserted. The usual lungi clad men and the sari clad women, who used to stand around steel tables and gulp hot idlis dipped in delicious south Indian sambar, peep into the premises only to see the empty counters.
“It is almost three months now. This Amma Unavagam does not serve food,” says Ravichandran, a construction worker. The Amma canteen at West Mambalam was his one stop shop for breakfast and lunch. One of Jaya's favourite schemes, Amma canteen (launched in 2013), which used to feed at least 3.5 lakh people everyday, now provides food at subsidised rate for only 1.8 lakh people. According to data from the Chennai city corporation, the number of idlis sold has reduced from 4.5 lakh per day to 3.01 lakh per day, not because of quality but lack of supply.
On any working day, these canteens dish out only 3.01 lakh idlis, 1.04 lakh pieces of chappatis and 88,000 plates of rice, which is at least 60 per cent less than the supplies last year.
"The quality is the same. But we don’t get it as much as we did earlier," says Rajendran, an auto driver. In fact, this is the same Amma Unavagam that was perpetually crowded when Jaylalithaa was hospitalised, feeding almost every AIADMK cadre who waited near the gates of Apollo hospital for long hours.
Reportedly, the Chennai corporation owes around Rs 18 crore to the Triplicane Urban Cooperative Society (TUCS), which supplies vegetables and provisions for 400-odd Amma canteens in Chennai. TUCS is the first consumer cooperative society in the state. TUCS had signed an agreement with the Chennai corporation for supplying raw materials to the Amma canteens. Dues have been piling up since November 2016, a month after corporation council demitted office. The term of the corporation ended on October 2016.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in a report on the local bodies, pointed out the increasing fiscal strain on Chennai corporation caused by Amma canteens and other Amma brand welfare schemes. According to the report, the expenditure incurred by Amma canteens for the year 2014-2015 touched a whopping Rs 110 crore. The other Amma schemes run by Chennai corporation, like the Amma drinking water and Amma pharmacy, are also on the decline.
For instance, the Amma drinking water scheme is on the path of failure. The corporation runs just 49 drinking water facilities as against the 100 outlets which it was supposed to run. At least 18 lakh poor residents who were promised mineral water are yet to receive smart cards for the 20 litre water cans.
Due to fund crunch in the corporation, several other schemes like the Amma theatre and Amma market are yet to take off. The Amma cinema theatres have not picked up at all, despite the corporation identifying the land for building them. Through these theatres, the Chennai city corporation promised luxury viewing at a subsidised rate of Rs 10. The Amma markets, which were supposed to be launched in 200 locations across the city, has also been deferred, according to officials in the Chennai city corporation.
On the other hand, schemes like Amma baby care kit, which were launched by Jayalalithaa at a cost of Rs 67 crore in 2015, continues, but at a slow pace. In September 2015, exactly a year before Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital for treatment, her concern was about the health and hygiene of mothers and infants.
The AIADMK government led by Jayalalithaa, till September last year, had spent close to Rs 7700 crore for all these welfare schemes and distributing freebies. When Palanisamy took over as the chief minister in February this year, he followed his predecessor's line of launching welfare schemes by signing five government orders. However with the existing schemes on the decline, it is a million dollar question as to how the new schemes will be implemented.
