Rs 10 thali for city residents: Not much on admn’s plate

Rachna Khaira

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 16

If you are dreaming of savouring a thali for the ‘princely’ sum of Rs 10— on offer by the Red Cross Society in three districts of the state— you may have to wait a bit longer as there seems to be many a slip between the cup and the lip when it comes to implementing the scheme in Jalandhar district.

The project seems to have hit a roadblock in Jalandhar that has a population of over 21 lakh (2011 census). Though the district administration is making all out efforts to turn the project into reality, it is expected to hit the financial hurdle due to the ever increasing population which has crossed 25 lakh recently.

Already, around 50 per cent of the people in the district are covered under the Atta-Dal scheme, and it will further become difficult for the district administration to bring more people under the scheme.

Calculation that  may concern  the dist admn  

• Let’s assume that the district administration provides a Rs 10 thali to around 1,000 people everyday which is a mere 0.04 per cent of the total 25 lakh population. 
• Expense on a single day: 1,000x10 = Rs 10,000 
• Expense in a month: 10,000x30 = Rs 3,00,000
• Expense during the whole year: 3,00,000x12 = 36 lakh
• The administration spending Rs 36 lakh to cater to 0.04 per cent of the population in the district doesn’t make much sense. For the administration to ruin the scheme, it needs a well planned policy to sustain the scheme in the longer run. 

Fact file

The project seems to have hit a roadblock in Jalandhar that has a population of over 21 lakh (2011 census). Though the district administration is making all out efforts to turn the project into reality, it is expected to hit the financial hurdle due to the ever increasing population which has crossed 25 lakh recently. 

Already, around 50 per cent of the people in the district are covered under the Atta-Dal scheme, and it will further become difficult for the district administration to bring more people under the scheme.