NEW DELHI, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- India's Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched over 100 low-cost canteens for the poor in the southern state of Karnataka.
The canteens called Indira canteens, named after India's first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Rahul's grandmother, will provide breakfast for as little as five Indian rupees (10 U.S. cents) and lunch and dinner for just 10 Indian rupees.
"In a matter of a few months, the poor people across most cities in Karnataka will be able to eat in these Indira canteens," the Congress vice president said after inaugurating one such canteen in state capital Bengaluru.
"Millions of poor people in Bengaluru go hungry, they can now eat at these Indira canteens. I am happy that it is under the Congress government that the poor people are getting such facilities," he added.
Gandhi's Congress party, which rules Karnataka, has copied the idea of cheap canteens for the poor from the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, where then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa started the same canteens across the state in 2013.
"I would like the government to pay special attention to this fact that the canteen should have excellent quality food, excellent hygiene and people walking out of this canteen must feel that they not only had safe food, but tasty food," Gandhi urged the state government.
