‘How can Indira canteens have 1 lakh visitors during bandh?’ BJP leader alleges ‘scam’

BJP’s Padmanabha Reddy, the Leader of Opposition at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Council, has alleged that there is a “large-scale scam” in the Indira Canteen scheme in Karnataka. 

Addressing the reporters on Thursday, Padmanabha Reddy alleged that there were discrepancies in the total number of customers and the total bills incurred by the 152 Indira Canteens in Bengaluru. 

The BJP leader has claimed that the ruling Congress-JD(S) government is ‘encouraging corruption’ by not being transparent about tender processes involving these canteens and not installing CCTVs in the premises. 

According to the leader, the bills have mentioned that a total of 1,97,575 customers visited the 152 canteens in Bengaluru every day over a period of time. The BBMP has been billed a total amount of Rs 63,22,400 in that period. 

Citing one such bill for the month of January 2018, the BJP leader said that the canteens claimed to have had the same number of customers on January 25, when a bandh was held in Karnataka over the Mahadayi dispute.   

“How can there be the same number of people on a day of bandh? Everybody knows that the canteen was shut on the day of the bandh. Moreover, there have been many days where it rained very much. How can the bill for those days be the exact same?” he asked, adding that he had seen that Indira Canteens of three wards— Vasant Nagar, Sampangi Nagar and Banaswadi - were closed.  

He also accused BBMP Mayor Sampath Raj of not installing CCTV cameras in the premises.   

Taking inspiration from Amma canteens launched by late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, Indira Canteens were introduced in the 2017 Karnataka Budget by then CM Siddaramaiah as a populist scheme. There are currently around 152 canteens across Bengaluru that provide subsidized nutritious meals, primarily to the urban poor.