Launching Akshaya Patra’s 33rd and its largest high-tech kitchen at Narsingi in Ranga Reddy district amid a galaxy of political leaders here on Thursday, the NGO’s chairman, Madhu Pandit Dasa, said the ultimate goal was to help poor school students conquer hunger and thus access quality education at schools.
At an impressive function, Union Minister of State for Labour, Bandaru Dattatreya, appreciated the speed with which the ultra-modern kitchen, equipped to serve an estimated 35,000 meals to schoolchildren, was completed. Work on the kitchen was done in a record span of just nine months with the financial help of over ₹10.5 crore received from Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
The Centre and the Telangana State government too were doing their best and Mr. Dattatreya said 35,000 meals would be delivered to 238 schools across Ranga Reddy district and 366 Anganwadi centres primarily between Ranga Reddy and Medak districts. Mr. Dasa said Akshaya Patra now served meals to 95,585 children in 880 schools and 27,000 Anganwadi beneficiaries in Telangana. In 18 more months, 16 kitchens would be added across different States, including four in Telangana at Mahabubnagar, Kandi, Warangal and Vikarabad. The goal was to feed five million children by 2020, up from the current 1.6 million, he explained.
Executive officer and regional executive-India for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ryiochi Shinke, said the organisation was happy to collaborate with local communities across several countries with its corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Mr. Shinke fondly recalled the day when he participated in the bhoomi pooja of the Narsingi kitchen and also enjoyed the lunch that followed, which was the same that made its way to schools. He conveyed his appreciation to the Goseva mandal that donated the land for the kitchen. Several public representatives including Transport Minister P. Mahender Reddy, MP K. Vishweshwar Reddy and Rajendra Nagar MLA T. Prakash Goud expressed happiness over the kitchen coming up in the said Assembly constituency.
