Thousands of people in the State’s five cities, where the much-hyped Aahar scheme was launched on April 1, returned disappointed on Sunday seeing as the counters were closed. The notice boards put up at the counters had no mention about the unannounced closure.
What was painful for them is that they stood in a queue in front of the counters at least for an hour under the scorching heat to buy tickets for the subsidised meals. Their hunger and frustration soared with the rising mercury. As nobody turned up at 11 am, the opening time of the centres, they returned disappointed.
The scene was more or less the same at all the centres across five cities, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Brahmapur, Rourkela and Sambalpur. At some centres, the Rs5-a-meal aspirants were seen abusing the authorities for not informing about the closure.
An official connected with the scheme said that it was pre-decided to keep the centres closed on Sundays for maintenance works.“This is mismanagement. A notice board should have been put up here informing about the closure on Sundays,” said a person who had stood in a queue at a centre here.
Similarly, another person criticised the concerned authorities saying the State Government has used maximum space inside the centres for publicising about the scheme but has not put up a single board stating, ‘Sunday is closed’. Meanwhile, some people have alleged that the quality and quantity of food has gone down in comparison to the ones served on the opening day.
Similarly, some have expressed unhappiness over land of drinking water facilities and withdrawal of pickle from the menu. Surprisingly, the take-away option (packed food for four persons) was only inaugural day offer as it has been discontinued after a day.