Bhubaneswar, March 2: Taking the cue from Amma Unavagams (Amma Canteens) launched by the Jayalalithaa government, chief minister Naveen Patnaik today decided to start a cheap noon meal scheme to woo the urban poor.

Under the proposed scheme, rice and dalma (a popular dish made of dal and vegetables) will be made available at the rate of Rs 5 per plate as against the market price of Rs 30 per plate from April 1 only at lunch time.

A senior official said that the scheme would be subsidised by the government at around Rs 20 per plate. Detailed modalties are being worked out, he said.

Cheap meals will be available at five major urban centres of the state - Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Berhampur and Rourkela. Incidentally, corporation elections are likely to be held in Sambalpur and Rourkela in May.

The outlets will be opened at crowded places such as bus stands, railway stations, district collector offices, and hospitals under the brand name of "Aahaar" (food). Official sources said provisions would be made to feed 25,000 people every day.

These outlets will be managed by voluntary organisations such as Akshay Patra Foundation, which have experience in serving hygienic meals on a mass scale.

The state food supplies & consumer welfare departments and urban development departments will provide the required infrastructure and other facilities, while the food inspectors of respective urban bodies will conduct scrutiny of food quality and hygiene. Various corporate houses will also extend their support to the programme, said official sources.

In Tamil Nadu, cheap breakfast and meals are available at 294 Amma Unavagam outlets run by municipal corporations across the state, which cater to around 2.5 lakh customers a day. The scheme launched in February 2013 became a success due to low prices of the eatables served in hygienic surrounding.

Idli is available at Re 1 per plate, pongal at Rs 5, sambar rice at Rs 5, curd rice at Rs 3 and two chappatis with dal at Rs 3. Since the launch, over 115.4 million idlis, 10 million dishes of pongal, 19.2 million dishes of sambar rice, 10.4 million of curd rice and 20 million chappatis have been sold at the Chennai outlets alone. This speaks of grand success of the scheme in Tamil Nadu.

In Odisha, the urban poor, who are out of ambit of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, are expected to benefit from the scheme. Besides, the low-salaried government and private sector employees are looking forward to the scheme.

"We can't afford to pay Rs 30 a day to have rice and dalma in general eateries. Now we can get it at Rs 5," said an excited Abhiram Biswal, a low-paid employee.

However, Opposition Congress and the BJP said the programme was being launched keeping the upcoming corporation elections in Sambalpur and Rourkela in mind. Opposition leader Narasingha Mishra said: "The government should have taken this step in the most backward areas of the state. Choosing developed cities may be like carrying coal to New Castle."

BJP spokesperson Suresh Pujari said: "Government should first raise the living standards of the poor so that they will not run for sops."

In Tamil Nadu, the government gives free rice and provides subsidised pulses and edible oil through public distribution system for the Amma Canteens scheme. It also supplies cooking gas and kerosene at subsidised price. The annual subsidy for all the Amma Canteens works out to Rs 200 crore, an official of the Tamil Nadu government said.

About 570 tonnes of rice and 400 tonnes of wheat are consumed every month at the Amma Unavagams in Chennai, apart from pulses, oil, curd, vegetables and other ingredients.

At present they employ about 5,000 people, mostly women, and generate a revenue of Rs 4,000 a day per outlet.

Since the outlets are usually located in government buildings such as corporation offices or hospitals, the start up capital for each outlet works to only Rs 5 lakh. Every outlet cooks items on the menu rather than sourcing them from a centralised kitchen. "Transporting from kitchens to more than 200 outlets would lead to pilferage, wastage and also the edible stuff turning bad," said a corporation official.

Since rice, wheat and dal are supplied by the state civil supplies corporation at subsidised rates, it is possible to supply food at such low rates.

The annual subsidy for all the Amma Canteens works out to Rs 200 crore, which is just a fraction of the Rs ,200 crore annual food subsidy of the Odisha government.