Recently inaugurated Indira Amma Canteen at the Doon Hospital premises is lagging behind the rest of the other such cheap State Government-sponsored canteens in terms of the number of the customers and some other matters.
Closure of the hospital on the public holidays is affecting the canteen as the number of customers have declined as compared to the normal days. While others are making records of 1,000 and 1,200 tokens a day the one at the hospital hardly comes near the number of 500.
Also, it has been noticed that the canteen situated at Doon Hospital opens around 10:30 am or sometimes even later around 11:00 am, though the closing time is same as the rest of the canteens. Notably, the rest of the canteen opens two hours before the one located in the hospital premises. Asked, the patients, who were found near the canteen, about the time the canteen closes, one of them said whenever he had come here for blood test he had found it closed.
Ashok Singh who was found outside the pathology lab said, “I have never had my breakfast here because it remains closed the time I came for blood test”. Yashoda, token in-charge of the canteen, said the customers coming for the lunch are few. Daily 450 to 480 customers come and it has not yet reached up to 500, she said, adding that on Sundays, the figures halves. “Our sale is affected when the hospital is closed,” she stated.
Recounting another problem the canteen has been facing, Puja Tomar, president of Saraswati Jagriti-a self-help group which is managing canteen, said space crunch is hitting them hard. The reason behind the canteen opening late, she said is because of the patients coming in hordes and sitting inside. It becomes difficult for them to prepare food, she said.