T.N. CM Stalin extends free meal scheme to another one lakh conservancy workers in civic bodies

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday (February 9, 2026) launched the expansion of the State’s free meal programme to benefit one lakh more sanitation workers in urban local bodies (ULBs). He had launched the programme for the sanitation workers of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) last year.

The expansion, launched by the Chief Minister during an event at Polivakkam in Tiruvallur district, would benefit 48,768 workers in 24 Corporations, 29,556 workers in 145 Municipalities, and 21,910 workers in 479 town panchayats. Earlier, the programme was launched in the GCC to benefit 29,455 workers.

Mr. Stalin said his government was providing housing facilities, loan assistance for entrepreneurship, life insurance, and education assistance for the children of sanitation workers. “We would provide more welfare initiatives and would stand by the sanitation workers,” he said in a social media post.

Ministers K.N. Nehru, S.M. Nasar, and M. Mathiventhan; MP. S. Jagathrakshakan; legislators S. Chandran, V.G. Raajendran, T.J. Govindarajan, S. Sudharsanam, A. Krishnaswamy, K. Ganapathy, and Durai Chandrasekar; Chief Secretary N. Muruganandam, and senior officials were present on the occasion.

Following the dramatic eviction of conservancy workers staging a protest at the Ripon Buildings in Chennai last year, a meeting of the Tamil Nadu Cabinet on August 14, 2025, approved six proposals aimed at the welfare of conservancy workers in the State. One of them was to provide free breakfast to them.