After feeding Chennai 64 crore idlis, what’s cooking at Amma canteens?

CHENNAI: After selling 64 crore idlis, 29 crore chapatis and 21 crore plates of variety rice, the 407 Amma canteens in Chennai are likely to be revamped. Greater Chennai Corporation is aiming to make the canteens financially self-sustainable.
The corporation has proposed to bring all the canteens under a trust so that they get corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding and other external donations.If implemented, people making donations to the trust will be eligible for tax exemption.
“It is imperative that various measures be taken to strike a balance between the social objective behind the canteens and and their financial dimension,” an internal note of the civic body said.
A proposal has been chalked out and sent to the commissioner and the state government for consideration, sources in the local body said. No official was willing to come on record as Amma canteen is considered a ‘sensitive issue’.
The proposal has identified measures to utilise the space inside the canteens by setting up stalls for sale of tea and coffee at subsidised rates. Other suggestions include renting out the space to government corporations for sale of handicrafts and vegetables, and for advertisement. This is because many canteens occupy prime real estate in busy localities, an official said.
At present, Amma canteens, which sell idlis at Re 1, variety rice at Rs 3 a plate and chapatis at Rs 3 with dal, generate a revenue of around Rs 30 crore every year. But the annual expenditure is between Rs 130 crore to Rs 140 crore, causing a Rs 100-crore dent in the corporation’s finances, an official said. This is mainly because footfalls at the canteens have been dwindling.
“Any move to increase the price of the food has been ruled out,” an official said. The government has to take a call on allocating Rs 100 crore from the state budget but has not shown any indications, the official said.
In 2013, then chief minister J Jayalalithaa launched the scheme to address hunger on the streets of Chennai. Policymakers said the canteens were not meant to make money. It generated a buzz across the country with Delhi, Jharkhand, Odisha and Karnataka replicating the model.
Today, there is a general perception that the canteens were better run when Jayalalithaa was alive. However, corporation officials said the notion was false. One official cited a committee set up under the corporation’s health department and tasked with improving the quality of food.
Officials inspecting the canteens said people wanted a change in the menu, especially in the options provided for variety rice. But the civic body has been unable to do that.
Former mayor Saidai Duraisamy, who spearheaded the initiative, told TOI that the corporation could try procuring tender coconuts through its co-operative societies and sell them at subsidised rates in the canteens. He said that from 1kg of rice supplied for Re 1, 66 idlis can be made, thereby earning the canteen Rs 66. “If supervised properly, Amma canteens will not have financial issues,” Duraisamy said.