At first sight, it looks just like your run-of-the-mill
ration shop. A crowd standing in an uneven queue sweats it out, stepping out of
the line only to peer at the counter at the ‘end of the tunnel’. Unlike people
who are waiting at ration shops, none of those in this line are carrying bags
or bottles. All they have is a Rs 10 note folded in their fingers, and going by
the looks on their faces, they’re hungry.
With just about 200 Amma Unavagams churning out
idlis and plates of curd and sambhar rice every day, the crowds are constant, large
and hungry. Inaugurated barely a month-and-a-half ago by Chief Minister J
Jayalalithaa, the Amma Unavagam scheme has really hit it off. Though every
canteen is different in its structure, as each ward councillor had to identify
suitable locations and build as per what was available, the maintenance has
been standard.
Particularly impressive is the state of the tiffin
centres even after a month of serving food — the floor tiles are spic -and-span,
the interiors neat and polished and there is very little water spilt near the
drinking water cooler.
Most of the tiffin centres have three rooms, of
which one is used for food preparation, one as a dining hall and another as
washroom. All the three rooms have minimal space. Many customers take the food
and go out of the tiffin centre to find a shady corner to sit and eat. During
peak hour, usually between 8.30 am and 1 pm, they rush to get tokens and then
the food distribution begins.
What happens behind the scenes is a story of great
planning and greater precision in execution. With more than 2,400 women from
Self Help Groups being employed by the corporation to run the canteens, it has
come as a godsend for both the women as well as the city’s hungry. With 12
women handling each centre, the staff group themselves into two shifts to
handle breakfast and dinner. Each employee is paid `300 per day. The day begins
extremely early for women on the morning shift. They come to the centre around 3
am, when they start making the idli batter and steam them en masse. With
anywhere near 2,500 idlis being steamed per centre, the CM’s statement that 1
lakh idlis are being sold every day is a modest understatement.
“Since, the centre opens for breakfast in the
morning around 7 am, we have to rush to make the idlis. In the evenings, we
ready the rice batter for making idlis the next day, but even then we need to
start exceptionally early,” said one of the women in the centre.
The centres are restricted to serving only three
items – idly, sambar rice and curd rice. “Though there have been gripes that
the curd rice is served without pickle, sambhar rice without poriyal and
appalams and idli without chutney, the crowd is only getting larger everyday,”
said Revathi, who works at an unavagam in Kolathur.
So, where does the corporation procure the material
from? “Rice will be supplied to us through civil supplies at regular intervals.
Some centres receive rice and stock it. Some other centres procure them on
daily basis. We procure all the provisions that are needed to prepare sambar, from
Amudham. For curd, we get milk from Aavin. Vegetables alone we buy from the
open market. Each centre can procure vegetables from the open market nearby and
each centre has enough space to stock the provisions,” a senior corporation
official said.
When asked about the quantity of rice used to cook
food overall, the official said, “It depends on the centres. Wherever the
demand is high, the supply of rice will also be proportionate. Since, the
scheme just kicked off, we have to work on those calculations in the coming
days. But till date, we haven’t heard of any wastage.”
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