Rahul Gandhi launches 'Indira Canteen' in Bengaluru

Agencies
August 16, 2017

Bengaluru, Aug 16: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today launched the Karnataka government's subsidised food canteens 'Indira Canteen' here that would provide breakfast at Rs five and lunch and dinner at a cost of Rs 10.

Apparently taking the cue from the popular 'Amma canteens' in Tamil Nadu, introduced by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the Siddaramaiah government had announced setting up of the canteens in the state budget for 2017-2018.

Initially referred to as 'Namma Canteen', the name was later changed to'Indira Canteen' as Congress legislators sought to give apolitical touch to the populist announcement ahead ofthe Assembly polls early next year by naming it after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

An amount of Rs 100 crore was provided in the budget to set upthe canteens in 198 wards of Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP).

Congratulating the state government for the canteen programme, Gandhi said it is designed to make sure that not a single person in Bengaluru goes hungry.

Calling the world an "unfair place", the Congress vice president, who also had a lunch at the canteen, said it is targeted at the working class like construction workers and auto rickshaw drivers.

"There are many people in this city who live in huge houses and have plenty of food, who drive in big cars and for them food is not a big issue..but there are millions of people in Bengaluru like construction workers, those who own small shops, autorickshaw or taxi drivers, barbers and peoplewho don't get that much money, and it is those people at whomthis Indira Canteen is targeted," he said.

"We want the people from poorest and weakest sections inBengaluru to feel that they will no have to stay hungry in this city. There cannot be a single minute where a poor person inBengaluru is hungry. We want every single person to know andunderstand that," he added.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress GeneralSecretary in-charge of the state K C Venugopal, the party's state unit chief G Parameshwara and Bengaluru in-charge Minister K J George, among others were present at the event.

Taking pride over the Congress government conceptualising such a canteen, Gandhi said the intention was that the quality of food and cleanliness in it be the same as the most expensive restaurants in Bengaluru.

"I would like the government to pay special attention to this fact that the canteen should have excellent quality food, excellent hygiene and people walking out of this canteenmust feel that they not only had safe food, but tasty food.I think we owe this to every single citizen," he said.

He said that the chief minister had informed him about extending the programme to other cities of the state.

In the first phase, 101 canteens were launched today and the remaining 97 will start functioning from October 2, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike officials said.

Though it was initially proposed to have 198 canteens launched by the Independence Day, the number was later brought down to 125 owing to constrains related in getting land for construction of canteens in all the wards.

A total of 27 kitchens will be set up across the city to cater to these canteens, of which 14 are ready and six are currently in working condition.

According to officials, the canteens as of now will serve 500 plates of food, keeping in mind the budgetary allocation, and this is likely to be increased in the future.

Claiming that BBMP had ensured that project take shape to this level within 60 days after getting the order on June 12, officials said construction of canteens is being undertaken by KEF Infra Ltd, while Rewards, and Cheftalk Food and Hospitality Services have given the catering contract for the canteens.

Comments

Mohammed
 - 
Thursday, 17 Aug 2017

Superb project...Rapid Constrution work...Hope govt. maintains well..

Hari
 - 
Wednesday, 16 Aug 2017

Great.. quality food for cheaper price..

Kumar
 - 
Wednesday, 16 Aug 2017

Who will give funds for that.. Our Modiji.. Modiji ki Jai

Sangeeth
 - 
Wednesday, 16 Aug 2017

Cong people will loot much more in that..

Ganesh
 - 
Wednesday, 16 Aug 2017

Another way to loot money. 

Rajeev
 - 
Wednesday, 16 Aug 2017

Great... should have one here in Mangaluru

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 15,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 15: A total of over 4,000 COVID patients have been discharged in Karnataka so far, as the state on Monday reported 213 new cases of coronavirus and two related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 7,213 and the death toll to 88.

On Monday alone 180 patients were discharged in the state after recovery. As of June 15 evening, cumulatively 7,213 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 88 deaths and 4,135 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.

Out of the 2,987 active cases, 2,931 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 56 are in Intensive Care Units. Among the two deaths were a 65-year-old man from Dharwad, who was the contact of another patient already tested positive.

He was admitted on June 14 at a designated hospital and died the same day. The other was a 75-year-old woman from Bengaluru, diagnosed with ILI (Influenza Like Illness) A known case of Diabetes mellitus and Hypertension , she was admitted on June 13 at a designated hospital and died on June 15.

Out of 213 new cases 103 are returnees from other states, a majority of them from neighbouring Maharashtra, while 23 are those who returned from other countries.

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Kalaburagi accounted for 48, followed by Bengaluru urban 35, Dharwad 34, Dakshina Kannada 23, Raichur 18, Yadgir 13, Bidar 11, Ballari 10, Koppal 4, three each from Vijayapura, Bagalkote and Shivamogga, two each from Udupi, Haveri and Ramanagara, and one each from Hassan and Davangere.

Udupi district tops the list of positive cases with a total of 1,028 infections, followed by Kalaburagi 944 and Yadgir 822.

Among discharges also Udupi is on top with total of 736 discharges, followed by Kalaburagi 459 and Bengaluru urban 329. A total of 4,49,331 samples have been tested so far, out of which 5,362 were tested on Monday alone.

So far 4,32,346 samples have been reported as negative, out of which 4,738 reported negative today, the bulletin said.

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News Network
February 6,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 6: The Kerala government on Wednesday said three foreign nationals were among the 2,528 people under observation in the state for the novel coronavirus infection and no new cases have been reported.

At least 93 people with minor symptoms of the virus have been lodged in isolation wards of various hospitals, state Health Minister KK Shailaja told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

India's three positive cases for the virus has been from the state's three districts of Thrissur, Alappuzha and Kasaragod.

All the three are students of China's Wuhan university, the epicentre of the virus.

"No new cases of coronavirus has been detected in the state today. At least 2,435 are under observation at home while 93 are in isolation wards at various hospital across the state," Mr Shailaja said.

The minister also said two foreigners have been quarantined in Ernakulam district and one foreign national at Thiruvananthapuram.

"The foreigner in Thiruvananthapuram has been kept at general hospital but not because he was showing symptoms but for observation as he travelled from China," an official said.

The health status of the three patients, who had tested positive for the virus, "remains satisfactory", the minister said.

After three cases were reported, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had declared the epidemic as a "state calamity" on Monday.

The health department has issued advisories to the education, tourism and the animal husbandry departments on taking precautions.

"The students, teachers, other staff members residing with families of Wuhan/China returnees who are already in home isolation should not attend classes...," an advisory issued to the education department read.

Rajan Khobragade, Principal Secretary (Health), said the health department has directed the District collectors to hold a meeting with the religious leaders of the district to create awareness during prayer meetings.

"We have directed district collectors to meet religious leaders and talk to them about the seriousness of the situation and create awareness among them and their followers on how to contain the spread of virus," the minister said.

Mr Shailaja also said the department got messages from some Kerala students studying in China, who returned to the state after the virus outbreak, that their Universities had asked them to return and attend classes.

"We have got some messages from the students that they were being recalled by the universities in China. We discussed the matter and it was decided that the centre will contact such universities and convey the message that it was not possible to send the students back to China until the epidemic was under control," the minister said.

Mr Shailaja also said even though there were no positive cases for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, the state needs to remain vigilant and reiterated the 28 days quarantine period for those returning from China.

Of the 2,528 people under observation, the maximum number is from Malappuram (383), followed by Ernakulam (333), Kozhikode (306) and Thrissur (241).

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News Network
May 20,2020

Bengaluru, May 20: 63 more COVID-19 cases have been reported from Karnataka, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to 1,458 on Wednesday, said the state Health Department.

The total number of cases includes, 864 active cases and 41 deaths (one due to non-COVID cause), it added.

Total 10 people have been discharged today while 553 persons have been discharged so far.

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