New canteen to come up at Ripon Building

“We have floated a tender inviting contractors to run the canteen. Once the bids are finalised, the canteen will come into operation,” a Chennai Corporation official said.

Earlier in September 2018, the civic body closed the herbal canteen to take up renovation works inside the canteen. However, the civic body never started the renovation works.

Meanwhile, sources in the civic body said that the closure was due to a fallout between higher officials and the previous contractor who was running the herbal canteen for around seven years. “The contractor was requesting permission to renovate the canteen but he was denied permission. Owing to this, he closed the canteen,” sources said.

On an average, nearly 1,000 persons, including officials and the public, had been using the herbal canteen every day, which was the precursor to Amma Canteens. Since the canteen was closed, the public and Chennai Corporation employees are forced to eat from hotels outside the Ripon Building campus.