Budget Session |Subsidy scrapped in Parliament canteen menu; here is who eats what!

Ahead of the Budget Session, the Parliament canteen published a new rate list that has most items at market rates. The cheapest on the menu is a chapati for Rs 3 and the most expensive item is a non-vegetarian buffet for Rs 700.

Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla had on January 19 announced the scrapping of the subsidy on Parliament’s canteen food. He said that India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) will be handling the canteens instead of Northern Railways that has been at the helm for 52 years.

Sources said that ITDC will serve food cooked by expert chefs of the five-star Ashok Hotel. Presently the canteen serves 48 food items on its menu for lunch and evening snacks.

Who eats canteen food?

The subsidised rates of food in the Parliament canteen have been criticised with many objecting to lawmakers enjoying food at dirt-cheap rates at the taxpayers’ expense. Until last year, Rs 17 Crore every year was spent on subsidies to keep food cheap in the Parliament canteen, Birla said. The move to scrap subsidy is expected to save the exchequer around Rs 8 Crore annually, news agency PTI reported

But it seems very few MPs eat in the country’s most elite canteen. Out of the Rs 17 crore subsidy, only 1.4 percent or Rs 24 lakh is spent on MPs, according to a recent survey. The rest, it was found, is spent on visitors, security personnel, government officials, and journalists. Around 4,500 people eat daily at Parliament on an average on a day during a session.

"We don't see MPs in this canteen. It is mostly occupied by staff and journalists or visitors," said an employee who did not want to be named.

The largest percentage of customers are Parliament staff, ministries, and political parties holding press conferences.  Only 9 percent of people who eat in the canteen are MPs, according to many reports. Most of the MPs sit in the Central Hall and eat, he said.

Outsiders most hit?

The debate over subsidy to the Parliament canteen started many years ago in 2015 when an RTI reply highlighted the cheap food rates in Parliament canteen. Soon, Jay Panda, then a BJD MP, started a signature campaign against subsidies enjoyed by lawmakers. In 2016, the prices were revised after a gap of six years and the canteen, it was decided, would be run on a “no profit and no loss basis”.

In December 2019, however, with Om Birla as Lok Sabha speaker, MPs agreed to give up the subsidy.

Old-timers said that the scrapping of subsidy would hit outsiders more than lawmakers. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had pointed out that the move could hit hard the hundreds of employees and media personnel who come to Parliament.

An official who did not want to be named said, “No visitors are allowed this session due to COVID-19 restrictions but we expect visitors in the future. MPs usually treat their guests with snacks in the Parliament canteen. The biggest attraction of the canteen was a subsidy that doesn't exist anymore,” he said.

Not just one canteen

There are four canteens in the Parliament, though referred to as a single canteen. Room number 70, on the first floor, is where the canteen reserved for MPs is located and is the main canteen. The lawmakers mostly order food in the Central Hall or in their offices. There is a canteen in the library and annex building too. The fourth canteen at the reception is defunct because of construction work for the new Parliament complex.

There have been complaints about food quality in the past. In July 2014, Rajya Sabha members including, JD-U’s KC Tyagi and SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav and Jaya Bachchan, raised the issue of the poor quality food being served in the Parliament canteen.

Experts said the subsidy should have continued since MPs don't anyway eat there.

“If the government thinks that it a huge subsidy which the economy couldn’t bear, then it is another matter. But it is not a huge amount. The canteen in the Parliament cannot be treated at par with five-star hotels," PDT Achary, former Secretary-General, Lok Sabha told Moneycontrol. Achary was posted in Parliament for forty years and served as Secretary-General, Lok Sabha for five years from 2005 to 2010.

“All MPs are not uniformly rich. Also, it is not always lawmakers who eat at the Parliament. The staff is there, people from outside come. One of the attractions was reasonable rates,” he said.