It can be termed as the state’s first Ma Canteen on wheels. Ma Canteen is the brainchild of Trinamul chairperson Mamata Banerjee, which provides nutritious lunch to the needy at a cost of Rs 5.
The Durgapur Municipal Corporation (DMC) has turned a 15-year-old bus of South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) into a Ma Canteen.
It has been parked beside the bus stand at Durgapur railway station.
According to the policy of discarding old vehicles of over 15 years, the express bus would have been sold and dismantled as scrap.
On 1 September 2023, this canteen-on-wheels was inaugurated. The driver’s and the conductor’s doors have been locked and the interior of the bus has been modified with benches and tables and a basin with a tap, all made up of iron angles.
The women volunteers of a self-help group have been entrusted for the cooking job. A kitchen has been set up beside the bus.
“We have sought a bus whose age is over 15 years and has been planned to be sold as scrap and under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission have renovated it into a Ma Canteen on wheels. These days not only this has become immensely popular but also attracting a lot of people,” said Anindita Mukherjee, chairperson of the board of administrators of Durgapur Municipal Corporation and former mayor.
Chairman of South Bengal State Transport Corporation, Subhas Mondal said that after receiving a proposal from the Durgapur Municipal Corporation they have donated the bus for a social purpose.
Unlike in other Ma Canteens, where people take away their lunch in containers, here, the needy can sit and have their lunch peacefully.
There are over 249 functional Ma Canteens in the state currently.