Corporation’s ban on takeaway at Amma Canteen hits the poor

A circular from the civic body dated April 24 has warned the employees of Amma Canteens of severe action if they provide parcel food. Presently, the Chennai Corporation is maintaining 407 Amma Canteens across the city, including 7 canteens in major government hospitals. At many canteens, the employees have already started implementing the circular.

The civic body claimed that the ban was to prevent misconduct in Amma Canteens. “Some owners of roadside eateries are buying food from Amma Canteens and sell them for a higher price. The circular is aimed to prevent such practice. From their inception, Amma Canteens never sold parcel food like hotels. The ban has been there right from the beginning,” a senior official from Chennai Corporation said.

However, regular customers are opposed to the move. A student of a Chennai Corporation school said that he would eat idlis at an Amma Canteen and buy some for lunch. According to him, it is difficult for his parents to prepare lunch, as them both are workers who leave home early. “If the Amma Canteen staff stop me from taking food in my lunch box, how can I have lunch,” he asked.

Apart from the students, the circular has also forced the patients admitted at major government hospitals and their attendants to spend more to buy food from hotels. “Amma Canteens provide hygienic food when compared to other hotels, as they are run by the government (Chennai Corporation). Those admitted at in-patient wards cannot come to the canteen to have food, we have to buy for them,” M Mohan, a patient attendant in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital pointed out.

Meanwhile, the circular has elicited opposition from inside the Chennai Corporation, too. An official opined that the move could bring down the sales by 30 to 40 per cent.

“Many poor people would buy food from the canteens and take them to their houses. Due to the ban, they will suffer and the sales will dip. Instead of banning the parcel for own consumption, the senior officials should ban only bulk parcels,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

He pointed out that the women working in the canteens know the customers who buy food for themselves and who buy food to sell at a higher price.