BBMP Councillor Padmanabha Reddy on Thursday alleged that the data maintained by the government concerning the number of people availing the facility of Indira Canteens every day does not give a clear picture of actual usage.

“The number of people who eat at Indira Canteens has not varied for 10 months,” he said, adding that far fewer people ate at these canteens than what the government was claiming.

He cited three wards — Vasanthnagar, Sampangiram Nagar and Banaswadi. The government’s figures show that patronage was constant — 600 for breakfast, 600 for lunch and 250 for dinner in Vasanth Nagar and Banaswadi, with a slight variation of 350 people for dinner in Sampangiram Nagar.

He added that on several occasions he had urged the Palike to install CCTV cameras.

Refuting the charges, Mayor R. Sampath Raj said, “There is no scope for inflating the number because billing process is automated and all Indira Canteens have CCTV cameras.”