Chennai: Officials from the Egypt government on Saturday visited the popular state-run "Amma Canteen" that sells food at a subsidised price and said they would come up with a similar model in their country.
Eng Mohammed Adel Rezek, accreditation director, Ministry of Trade and Industry (Egypt) and Ahmed Khalil, technical assessor, visited a canteen functioning in the Rajiv Gandhi Government General hospital premises here.
"We have been coming across media reports on these canteens and we are interested in studying the model," Adel Rezek told reporters.
The official said it was noteworthy that the government had taken up such initiatives in India whereas it was NGOs that were engaged in such work in his country.
They had brief meetings with civic body officials. One of them had visited a canteen in Madurai yesterday.
All 200 wards in Chennai have an "Amma Canteen or Amma Unavagam", besides canteens in big government hospitals and other cities in Tamil Nadu.
Plans are afoot to set up more such canteens in the State.
