Hyderabad Municipal Corp launches Rs 5 meal scheme

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Sunday launched a pilot centre of a scheme which would provide subsidised hot and hygienic meals to the poor for Rs 5 at Nampally Sarai here.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Sunday launched a pilot centre of a scheme which would provide subsidised hot and hygienic meals to the poor for Rs 5 at Nampally Sarai here.

GHMC, which plans to feed 15,000 people a day, will set up 50 such centres, each equipped to serve 300 persons.

The actual cost of the meal would be Rs 20. GHMC will bear the balance cost.

To start with, GHMC has partnered with Akshaya Patra Foundation, run by Hare Krishna Movement, which will prepare the food.

The vegetarian meal of rice, dal/sambar, sabji and pickle shall be served on first-come-first-serve basis in paper plates during 12 noon to 1 pm.

The civic body has earmarked Rs 11 crore for this in its 2014-15 budget.

GHMC commissioner Somesh Kumar said that intended beneficiaries were the migrant workers who can not pay Rs 40-50 that a meal costs in hotels.

"I have seen many poor people at labour addas. I come from such a social background and worked with NGOs and I felt this is an opportune time," the commissioner said when asked about the inspiration for the scheme.

As the trial run started on Sunday in collaboration with Akshaya Patra Foundation, whether it will be a single implementing agency which will prepare the food or multiple agencies will be decided in future.

Other pilot centres will come up at Koti, Chintalbasthi and Mehdipatnam, Kumar said, adding, "We will study and try to understand the issues that crop up, before feeding 15,000 people."

Volunteers serve food on the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) five rupee per meal scheme in Hyderabad. AFP