From May, get fish meal for just ₹21 at Bengal govt offices

KOLKATA: Following in the footsteps of Tamil Nadu’s Amma Canteen, the West Bengal government is set to provide subsidised meals at major state offices.

Under the scheme ‘Ekushe Annapurna’, the employees and visitors to the selected government offices will be able to eat a meal consisting of rice, dal, vegetable curry and fish curry at ₹21. The scheme will start from May 1 and will be marketed by the West Bengal State Fishermen’s Cooperative Limited, popularly known as Benfish.

State fisheries minister and TMC leader Chandranath Sinha said the scheme had started in a limited way in October 2016.

“Now, our aim is to introduce the scheme in all the districts of the state. We will begin with the district magistrate offices from May 1. It will be extended to other major state government offices,” he said.

According to the minister, the scheme was aimed at providing wholesome meal at a low price to both state employees and the visitors to government offices. “Every day thousands of people visit these offices and not all of them have the financial capability to get a full meal at a reasonable price. We have kept them in mind while launching the scheme,” he said.

Sinha said that 100 battery-run cars, owned by Benfish, will be used to transport the subsidised meals to different state government offices.

“The scheme will be run on a no profit, no loss basis,” the fisheries minister said and added that since the government had control over the price of fish, the most expensive item on the menu, it could moderate financial loss.