Overview
- Free meals were served across all 269 state-run Anna Canteens after a Rs 76 lakh donation by Nara Bhuvaneswari to mark the chief minister’s birthday.
- Naidu and Bhuvaneswari ate breakfast at the Patamata canteen in Vijayawada and spoke with diners about service quality and other welfare schemes.
- Naidu said the canteens serve Rs 5 meals to about 2.10 lakh people each day, which costs the state over Rs 54 lakh daily.
- The recent addition of 62 rural sites will require an extra food subsidy of about Rs 18 lakh per day, or roughly Rs 58 crore a year, according to Naidu.
- Naidu praised the Akshaya Patra Foundation for supplying meals and urged citizens to sponsor service days to help sustain and expand the programme.