Rise in number of people dependent on Amma canteens in Erode city

29/04/2020, STAFF REPORTER , ERODE

With the lockdown entering 35th day on Tuesday, the number of people dependent on Amma canteens has gone up significantly in the last one week.

11 canteens

The Erode Corporation runs 11 canteens in the city that provides breakfast and lunch at a nominal price to about 1,200 poor people every day.

After the announcement of lockdown on March 24, all the hotels and eateries were closed.

Homeless people, poor people and those involved in providing essential services started relying on Amma canteens for food. Since the demand for food has gone up, the Corporation started providing dinner at all the canteens from the first week of April.

The average number of people depending on the canteens started to increase with 7,500 people consuming food every day.

From April 23, food was provided free of cost to the people and hence long queues can be seen outside the canteens.

With more people turning up, food was served in areca leaves and police personnel were posted to monitor the crowd and to ensure personal distancing.

Corporation Commissioner M. Elangovan told The Hindu that on an average 15,000 people consume breakfast in the canteens. “Since the canteen workers are experienced, they are able to serve over 45,000 people a day in the city”, he added.