Recipe for record: 136 ‘Maa Canteens’ within KMC area caters to 1.5 cr people

kolkata: The 136 Maa Canteens that include seven in the medical colleges and hospitals within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area have catered to a record 1.5 crore people with a monthly average of over 7.7 lakh.

The hospitals contribute to a significant number of beneficiaries with SSKM alone having an average beneficiary of 900, per day, followed by Calcutta Medical College and Hospital with 500 a day.

The NRS Medical College, National Medical College popularly known as Chittaranjan Hospital in Park Circus and Bangur Hospital in Tollygunge cater to 300 people daily while RG Kar Medical College and Hospital caters to 250 beneficiaries daily.

The total daily beneficiaries at Sambhunath Pandit Hospital is 100.

The state government had started setting up Maa Canteen at all the medical colleges and hospitals across the state since October last year and by November the canteens in the hospital premises within KMC became functional.

“The special emphasis on opening up Maa Canteen in hospitals was taken up considering the fact that the footfall of people in these hospitals are very high,” a senior official of Nabanna said.

More than 27 other district hospitals already have Maa Canteens functional and many of those have a huge number of beneficiaries.

Kalimpong District Hospital has a daily footfall of 420, the one at Balurghat district hospital caters to around 450 daily, the one at Bankura Sammilani Medical College feeds 400, the Tamluk District Hospital caters to 450, Midnapore Medical College and Hospital has 400 to name a few.

Presently, there are a total of 303 canteens operational in 127 municipalities’ jurisdiction including Kolkata and New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA).

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s pet project ‘Maa Canteen’ is presently catering to over 17 lakh beneficiaries daily with a 3.09 crore beneficiaries taking food from these canteens till date.

The project that was launched in March 2021 has witnessed a steady jump and since March 2022, there has been a significant increase from 1.46 crore to over 3 crores.

The project provides lunch to the needy at Rs 5, with rice , dal, sabji and egg curry comprising one full table egg. The serving time is from 12 noon to 3 pm

The Maa Canteens are managed by State Urban Development Agency (SUDA) under the aegis of state Urban Development & Municipal Affairs department Apart

from ensuring the food quality, the state government ensures that the quality of drinking water provided to the beneficiaries along with the lunch is not compromised by any means.

The food is served in sal or paper plates and emphasis is given in sanitisation and disposal of waste too.

The official added that all the canteens are geotagged so that the daily activities can be monitored and there is total transparency in the

entire process.