Conservancy workers being served lunch under the Coimbatore Corporation’s free meal scheme at Ramanathapuram in the city on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Coimbatore Corporation has started serving lunch instead of breakfast to conservancy workers under its free meal scheme, following positive feedback from conservancy staff after a 15-day pilot programme in one ward in each zone.The food scheme, launched in February, covers 9,454 conservancy workers engaged in sanitation work across the city. Of them, 9,325 were provided breakfast and 129 workers were served dinner. The Corporation started providing lunch instead of breakfast to the 9,325 workers from Monday (July 13, 2026).“We received feedback from workers that lunch would be more convenient than breakfast. Based on their suggestions and the successful trial, we have rolled out the lunch scheme,” a Corporation official said.Ramasamy, a conservancy worker in the Town Hall area, welcomed the change. “We start work very early in the morning and most of us do not have much appetite at 7 a.m. By the time we finish work, the breakfast provided would have gone cold. If rice was served at lunchtime, it was much more comfortable for us. We had given this feedback to the Corporation, and they have acted on it,” he said.The scheme was estimated to cost ₹43.54 crore over three years, for which the Corporation had awarded a contract.Corporation Commissioner Katta Ravi Teja said the cost of providing meals had increased with the shift from breakfast to lunch. “The breakfast cost was ₹40 per worker, while lunch costs ₹50. We plan to adjust the additional expenditure by reducing the duration of the existing contract so that the overall contract value remains within the sanctioned amount,” he said. Published - July 14, 2026 07:39 pm IST
