Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Wednesday inaugurated the modernised kitchen of the Akshaya Patra Foundation at Lawspet.
The Education Department had signed an agreement with the foundation, a non-profit wing of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, in 2018, for the supply of nutritious mid-day meals to 50,800 children studying in 291 schools in Puducherry.
The Lieutenant Governor inaugurated the kitchen in the presence of Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, Speaker R. Selvam and legislators. Vice-chairman of Akshaya Patra, Chanchalapathi Dasa, said the mid-day meal programme would be launched in the next two months. “We have to recruit around 150 additional staff and train them,” he said.
The kitchen was constructed at a cost of around ₹15 crore with the support from the New India Assurance Corporation Limited and the General Insurance Corporation of India, he said. Each meal would cost around ₹15, and the foundation would incur 50% of the expenditure. “Adhering to the practice of serving food in accordance with local palate, the foundation will be serving rice, seasonal vegetable poriyal, vegetable pulav, sweet pongal, sambar, sundal, curd etc. The menu will change every day. Our endeavour will be to serve nutritious meals,” Mr. Dasa added.