NEW DELHI: More than 33,000 people, including daily-wagers and rickshaw pullers, have turned up for subsidised meals at the 45 Atal canteens since its operations began.

As per the data, 17,587 people were served meals on the first day of operations on Thursday. As many as 8,604 of them were served the lunch and 8,983 the dinner.

On Friday, the canteens witnessed 15,805 beneficiaries till the time of reporting, including 10,696 at lunch time and 5,109 during the dinner. Over the two days, a total of 33,392 people availed themselves of subsidised meals at the canteens named after late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Long queues were seen at the canteen in south Delhi’s Nehru Nagar.

The makeshift canteen is lined with photographs of Vajpayee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Delhi Urban Development minister Ashish Sood.

Staff from a non-governmental organisation were seen serving meals to the visitors. Khattar and Rekha Gupta had inaugurated the canteen—one of the 45 opened on Thursday on the 101st birth anniversary of Vajpayee.

Slum residents said the canteen is affordable, with meals priced at Rs 5 each. The lunch is served from 11.30 am to 2 pm, while dinner is available from 6:30 am to 9 pm.

The canteen has the capacity to serve up to 1,000 meals daily, split between lunch and dinner.

The story is reported by Anup Verma of The New Indian Express