In Parliament Canteen: And some friends want to change everything. We will overcome. We will succeed. Do not despair.
Sample the rates: Vegetarian thali - comprising dal, subzi, four chapatis, rice or pulao, curd and salad - for Rs.12.50, non-veg thali Rs.22; curd rice is available at Rs.11; vegetable pulav at Rs.8 and chicken biryani at Rs.34. Fish curry and rice Rs.13. Rajma rice Rs.7; tomato rice Rs.7; fish fry Rs.17; chicken curry for Rs.20.50; chicken masala Rs.24.50 and butter chicken at Rs.27.
Dal, considered to be the poor man's food in India and which is now getting too expensive to even fit his bowl, costs just Rs.1.50 for a katori.
Low rates make the desserts sweeter. A katori of kheer at Rs.5.50 will never taste bitter. So will a small fruit cake at Rs.9.50 and a helping of fruit salad at Rs.7.
If you want to have soup, enjoy a bowl full at Rs.5.50, and for a heaped plate of cooked rice you need to shell out just Rs.2. Dosa is available at Rs.4.
And, yes, a cup of piping hot tea is available for just Rs.1 -- not in the canteen but along a parliament corridor at a tea board.
Where does this come from? Remember, behind the cheap commodity there is a subsidy. All this costs the government a huge amount of tax payers' money.
The gap between the actual cost and what MPs, journalists and others have to pay, is bridged with a food budget set aside by parliament.
"Over Rs.5.3 crore has been allocated during the current financial year for the canteens. The Lok Sabha pays some Rs.3.55 crore and the Rajya Sabha shares the amount to over Rs.1.77 crore," said an official.
"Not only MPs, we serve food to everybody who is allowed inside parliament. They also include workers, gardeners and labourers," the official told IANS, defending the low prices.
The food prices were last revised in 2004.
A 15-member joint parliamentary committee on food management headed by then MP K. Yerranaidu of the Telugu Desam Party was constituted in 2005 to consider revision of the rates and the service.
"The committee didn't give any report and the rates were not revised," the official said.
During the just-concluded winter session, on an average "3,000 people were served lunch in the canteen daily", a caterer said, but strongly pleaded anonymity as "we have been told not to speak to the media without permission".
