File photo of Indira Canteen

BENGALURU: Even as chief minister HD Kumaraswamy promised to continue all the old schemes launched and approved by his predecessor Siddaramaiah , one of the Congress government's flagship programmes - Indira Canteens - appears to be progressing at a snail's pace.

Proposed initially to cater to the poor and middle- class in Bengaluru, the concept swiftly captured the imagination of Siddaramaiah and his government ahead of the 2018 assembly polls. After successfully launching the canteens in 198 wards of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike , the Congress government announced its extension to extend them to 10 other municipal corporations in the state.

The decision was to launch 260 of these canteens by January 1, 2018. However, 11 months on, 100 of them continue to be "works in progress".

Sources in the government attribute the delay to the lack of officials who need to implement the project at district levels, lack of funds and the elections held in May. "With the Congress government out of power and a coalition regime at the helm of affairs, officials at the district level hav e shown little interest in taking the project to its conclusive stage," said an urban development department official.

Besides, by February 2018, the unrealistic deadlines - set on account of the assembly polls - ensured that the project could not successfully take off. Key personnel and officials were then transferred by March- end and April first week and the model code of conduct came into effect.

Officials claim the assembly polls stalled all works for close to three months and the uncertainty after the hung verdict forced the project to be shelved for two more months. With the coalition government taking shape, and CM Kumaraswamy deciding to continue with the old schemes, Indira Canteens once again found some traction.

As of last week, it was estimated that the UDD, the nodal agency for the scheme, could run only 160 canteens in the state. It is said the directorate of municipal administration and UDD took financial approval for Rs 1.5 crore earlier last week for starting the remaining 100 canteens.

