by early 2015 then chief minister j jayalalithaa had pitched herself as a brand beyond politics by launching amma canteens amma water and amma cement a little more than two years after her death she remains a political icon but the brands are slowly fading awaydial the tollfree number 1800 425 5700 for amma cement and the call goes to a private cement manufacturer the aiadmk government launched the cement scheme in 2014 to make the material accessible at an affordable price when cement prices were going up people in the construction industry told toi that amma cement is no more availableits nowhere to be seen in the market its gone said s ramaprabhu vicechairman builders association of india southern centre chennai it was one of the best schemes for people when another cement bag cost 410 amma cement was available for 190 he saidthe government had supplied nearly 10 lakh tonnes of amma cement between april 2015 and march 2017 an official from the nodal agency tamil nadu cements corporation limited managing directors office said they will respond to questions but did not commentand its not just one amma product that has lost its sheen amma canteens that were replicated in karnataka andhra pradesh and madhya pradesh after their success in tamil nadu are no longer what they were as per data from the municipal administration and water supply department till 2015 august across the then 245 canteens 745 crore chapatis and 1135 crore idlies were sold even though the number of canteens was increased to 407 by 2017 the number of chapatis and idlies sold reduced to 37 crore and 998 crore between august 2017 to july 2018greater chennai corporation has tweaked the menu and rotated staff to bring back the zing all canteens are operational but the number of people eating has come down said an official we have introduced carrots in sambhar to enhance the taste cooks are being rotated such that the taste of food the official saidbesides subsidized food jayalalithaa had planned to open theatres and markets while three plots of land were identified to set up markets there were talks that theatres would come up at t nagar and shenoy nagar but the projects have been put in the freezer said corporation officialsthe marriage halls though not built are under construction each hall will have stilt plus three floors said an officialthe most basic of these schemes amma kudineer continues to provide free drinking water in lowincome areas but the unit at dms is shut and the corporation has not expanded it periodical complaints especially during summer are common even though the corporation spends rs 5 crore a year to maintain these units