The Delhi government would serve mid-day meals to around 40,000 students with the help of the Akshaya Patra Foundation under a pilot project, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said today.
Sisodia said Lt Governor Anil Baijal showed "positivity" for the proposal and "has plans to provide land to the foundation to set up kitchens for serving mid-day meals in government schools".
The deputy chief minister said in the Delhi Assembly that the existing mid-day meal contractors are not dedicated towards the "spirit of service".
He said the government is working on a strict tendering process under which action will be taken against contractors if they were found negligent in serving mid-day meals.
"The former LG (Najeeb Jung) was not ready to approve our proposal, but the new LG has shown some positivity.
"On a pilot basis, we will serve mid-day meals to around 40,000 students through the Akshaya Patra Foundation," he said.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation, on its website, claims it serves mida-day meals to 1.6 million children in 13,808 schools across 12 states in India.
During the discussion on mid-day meal, several AAP MLAs also said the foundation be allowed to serve mid-day meals in all city government schools as it has "expertise" in this field.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)