Delhi achieves 100 Atal Canteen target; final 25 inaugurated

The Delhi Government achieved its target of setting up 100 Atal Canteens on Sunday, completing the scheme within eight months of its launch.

Former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the final 25 canteens from Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station, marking the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The scheme was launched on December 25, 2025, on Vajpayee’s 100th birth anniversary. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, MP Manoj Tiwari, Urban Development Minister Ashish Sood and other dignitaries attended Sunday’s event alongside Naidu. The Chief Minister said the canteens would now also serve nutritious meals to university students, with one of the new outlets opened near Delhi University’s Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station.

MLA Surya Prakash Khatri, along with senior officials and staff from the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), attended the event. Guests dined at the canteen and inspected the food quality and operational arrangements.

Naidu called the initiative highly commendable, saying its goal was to provide affordable, nutritious food to the poor, slum dwellers, labourers and migrants arriving in Delhi in search of work. He described it as an example of sensitivity toward the most vulnerable sections of society and congratulated the Chief Minister and the Delhi government for completing the scheme on Vajpayee’s death anniversary.

The Chief Minister called the milestone a meaningful tribute to Vajpayee’s ideals of public service and said the government aimed to ensure no needy person went without respectful, nutritious food. She said students living away from their families in hostels and paying guest accommodations near Delhi University would now have access to affordable meals through the new canteen.

She said the government’s broader goal was to ensure no one in the capital slept hungry, singling out migrant labourers whose work sustains the city’s industries, markets and construction activity.

The Chief Minister also referred to the government’s “Jahan Jhuggi, Wahan Makan” housing commitment, saying the Government had expanded recognition of slum clusters to include those built before January 1, 2025, compared to the earlier cutoff of 2015.

Sood said Atal Canteen was not simply a scheme to provide low-cost meals but a pledge to honour the labourers whose work keeps Delhi’s roads, markets and metro running. He said the government was simultaneously working, alongside the central government, on rehabilitation of Delhi’s JJ clusters, a project expected to benefit around four lakh families.

According to DUSIB, the 100 canteens have served approximately 95 lakh subsidised meals so far, operating daily without holidays.

Meals are priced at Rs 5 each. The network currently serves around one lakh people daily and has the capacity to provide nearly 3.65 crore meals annually. The scheme fulfils a commitment made in the Delhi Government’s assembly election manifesto to establish 100 Atal Canteens.