Kolkata: About three months after chief minister Suvendu Adhikari’s announcement, the new fish and rice menu made its debut at some Maa Ahaar canteens in the city. It was a pleasant surprise on Wednesday for the citizens queuing up in front of a Maa Ahaar canteen at Lake Town as they got fish curry on their platters for Rs 5.In the past three months, self-help groups running these canteens have been flooded with enquiries about when the new menu would be introduced. Bus conductor Mintu Das was among the beneficiaries who was served the new menu on Wednesday. “I was waiting for this day to try the fish and rice option at Rs 5 since the new govt made the announcement. Finally, I got it today. All these years we only had egg, rice and vegetables.”Another beneficiary, Bhola Roy, an app cab driver, said, “Till yesterday I had the old menu. Today I got fish, which is supposed to be given twice a week. The price of fish is high and we cannot afford to have it at home every day. Getting it for Rs 5 is a privilege for people like us.”The new menu was also reportedly rolled out at a few other canteens in Haltu, Garfa and Behala, among other areas. While the new menu reached a few canteens in the city, the majority of them were found serving the old menu (egg and rice) on Wednesday.A state official conceded that many subsidised canteens are continuing with the old menu. He said, “The new menu containing fish is being dished out at Maa Ahaar canteens in phases.” According to the new menu announced by the state govt, the residents are supposed to get fish twice, egg twice and vegetables twice a week along with rice.Community kitchens, NGOs and cooperative societies cook meals for the canteens run by SHGs. Rupali Haldar, who serves food at a subsidised canteen at Kasba, stated, “Today we got the old menu to feed about 100 people. I heard that one such canteen at Haltu got the new fish and rice menu. We don’t know when it will be sent to us.”Like Haldar, Ganesh Das, who runs a Maa Ahaar canteen on Harish Mukherjee Road outside SSKM Hospital, said, “We did not get the fish rice menu today. Till now, no one has communicated to us when our canteen will get the new menu.”As of now, there are about 400 Maa Ahaar canteens in the state. In July, the govt had rebranded Maa canteens as Maa Ahaar canteens. The CM announced the state would have 100 such new canteens.
