CHENNAI : The smiles on the faces of children in Adi Dravida and Backward Communities hostels in Tiruvallur said it all. Increased business for farmers and fresh vegetables for students have been the results of a month-old Tiruvallur Collectorate project.

Vegetables worth more than Rs. 30,000 have been procured by the Collectorate in the first phase of its plan to directly supply hostels, anganwadis and noon-meal centres with required vegetables over the last month. Most of these have been bought from farmers at the uzhavar sandhai (Farmers' Market) at Tiruvallur.

Onion and tomato are being purchased from Koyambedu, as they are not locally grown. Greens, beans and brinjal are easily available at the Tiruvallur uzhavar sandhai. Officials are informed early in the day of prices at Koyambedu and select some of them directly from the wholesale market to stay within the budget of the hostels.

The plan, conceived by Collector Ranvir Prasad, has been implemented as a pilot project in four blocks for 14 BC and Adi Dravida hostels. Sheela and Parameshwari of Vaigai Self-Help Organisation and District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) officials set out at 7 a.m. twice a week to collect five different kinds of vegetables.

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