TN CM rolls out mobile Amma Canteens that will provide subsidized food for daily wage labourers

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami inaugurated mobile canteens under the Amma canteen banner on Wednesday. According to sources, the mobile Amma Canteens will work from morning and for breakfast, it is to serve idly costing ₹1 and pongal costing ₹5 on the menu. The canteens on wheels will go around Chennai catering to the needs of daily-wage labourers at construction sites, and other places. The canteens, which will provide food at a subsidized rate will be operated from 7 am to 10 am for breakfast and between 12 pm and 3 pm for lunch.

CM Palaniswami said,”I am very happy to have inaugurated the services of three mobile Amma canteens.” The initiative is an extension of the services of the existing chain of Amma Canteens, he said on his twitter handle. He distributed food packets outside the secretariat during the launch.

An official said, “The mobile unit also has facilities to dispose of waste and has an in-built hand washing facility. While the CM has launched three trucks in the first phase now, 50 more trucks are expected to come soon.”

Speaking on this Dr. Nilofer Kafeel, the Minister for Labour, Population, Employment and Training said that construction workers can now show their ID cards and have food served in the mobile Amma Canteens. “It was during the period of late former Chief Minister Dr. MGR a law was brought in to protect the interest of construction labourers. The late former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa constituted a board for construction workers. Today, there are 13 lakh workers registered with the Tamil Nadu Construction Workers Welfare Board. She raised solatium for the family of the worker who dies at the workplace from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh. Today our Hon’ble Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has given an order that the solatium would be given to the family not only for a worker who dies at the workplace but will also cover hospitalization and other charges when the worker meets with an accident elsewhere.”

About ₹100 crore has gone into the procurement and arrangement of these mobile restaurant arrangements by the civic body of the state government. While Chennai alone has 407 Amma canteens, there are 650 plus canteens across Tamil Nadu.