Yogi Adityanath plans to offer low-cost meals in UP similar to Amma Canteens in Tamil Nadu

With the aim of feeding the poorest of the state, the Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath has decided to set up Prabhu ki Rasoi, a state-sponsored kitchen that will provide free food to people. The first of such kitchens will be inaugurated in Saharanpur on August 9 and will feed 300 poor people, the Economic Times reported today.

The kitchens will serve a meal of rice, vegetables and dal from noon to 2 pm every day. This initiative will be the first of its kind which will provide free food in Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier in April, Yogi Adityanath's office announced that it would launch Annapurna Bhojanalya to provide subsidised food to students, daily wage laborers, private sector employees working in low income group and attendants of patients.

At Annapurna canteens, the government plans to provide three meals a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner - for just Rs 13. A presentation was already made before Chief Minister Yogi. The breakfast will cost Rs 3 while lunch and dinner will be available for Rs 5 each.

The breakfast menu includes combinations of tea with either dalia, idli, sambhar, poha, pakoras or kachori while lunch and dinner will include six chappatis with vegetables of dal and chawal. Food will be served in steel plates and water purifiers will be installed in all canteens.

Lucknow, Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Ghaziabad are the first four cities where government will kick-start the pilot project. The government plans to set up 200 Annapurna Bhojanalya across the state.

Yogi Adityanath is not the first chief minister to launch such initiatives. Back in 2013, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had launched Amma Unnavagam or Mother's canteen with a vision to provide low-cost meals for the people at large.

The food chains primarily serve South Indian food including idli, saambar rice, curd rice, pongal, lemon rice, curry leaf rice and also chappathi.

At Amma canteens, the dishes are offered at just Rs 1 for an idli, Rs 5 for a plate of sambar rice, Rs 5 for a plate of "Karuvapellai Satham" and Rs 3 for a plate of curd rice. Even the poorest of the poor can have a full meal within Rs 17-20 in Tamil Nadu.