New Delhi: Shahid Sheikh’s wait was finally over on Tuesday when the Atal Canteen reopened after two days. The Delhi government–sponsored public eatery had allegedly run out of cooking fuel. But meal suppliers told ThePrint that the closure was due to a “technical issue.”
The first meal of the day on Tuesday included only dal, rice, and roti. The sabzi or side dish was missing from the menu.
Sheikh and Rajesh Kumar Tomar work at a nearby construction site. For them, the canteen is “heaven”, they get meals for Rs 5. This helps them save money to run their families.
However, due to the ongoing war in West Asia, which led to a cooking fuel shortage in India, their heaven was snatched for two days.
“Finding it closed for two days increased the burden on us,” said Tomar, who has to send food to his family in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. Both Sheikh and Tomar were forced to eat parathas at a street shop.
“Paratha prices have gone up from Rs 30 to Rs 40, which is a lot for us. We were hopeful that the canteen would open soon,” said Sheikh, whose family lives in Nizamuddin, Delhi.
“I do not get lunch from home, the canteen is the only cheap option for me,” added Sheikh.
He was happy that the canteen had reopened.
Atal Canteen was opened on 25 December by CM Rekha Gupta, marking the 101st birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It promised to provide a full meal for Rs 5, served twice a day, seven days a week.
Initially, 45 canteens opened across low-income, high-density neighborhoods — from RK Puram and Govindpuri to Narela, Bawana, and Rajouri Garden. The Delhi government aimed to open 100 such canteens across the national capital. It served lunch from noon to 2 pm and dinner from 6 to 8:30 pm.
Raju and his team, working as dholkis in Lajpat Nagar, are regular visitors to the canteen and have both meals. The closed canteen forced them to collect wood from nearby areas and cook for the entire team.
The group on Tuesday dined at the canteen for Rs 5.
“We saw the doors open, and we came to eat lunch,” he said.
As the canteen resumed on Tuesday, 200 to 300 people started coming in looking for food.
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Rumours and ‘technical glitch’
On Monday, a handwritten note was put on the door of one of the Atal Canteens in South Delhi that said the canteen will remain shut until the gas arrives.
The staff at the Nehru Nagar Atal Canteen told ThePrint that the public eatery was shut because of LPG shortage. The worker at the desk said, “Khana wahan se hi nahi aya, toh hum kya kar sakte hai (What can we do if we have not received food from the suppliers)”.
However, Mukesh Sharma, manager at Sanraj Hospitality Private Limited, the organisation responsible for supplying meals to the canteens, and who is in charge of stations in South Delhi, told ThePrint that they were not able to provide food because of “technical problems”.
“For two days, there was a borewell water problem, hence we were unable to provide food to the canteens,” said Sharma. He added that the kitchen opened after two days, hence they could not provide curry. “From dinner onwards, dal, chawal, roti, sabzi, achar — everything will be in the meal. There is no need to panic, the canteens will function normally”.
Atal Canteen, unlike Amma Canteen in Chennai or Rajasthan’s Indira Rasoi — where food is cooked on-site and distribution is decentralised, Delhi government’s canteens rely on centralised kitchens and long road runs.
Rajeev Kumar Singh, who manages the Atal Canteen in Kalkaji, said there are rumours of the canteens being shut, but they are working well.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)