Akshaya Patra Foundation (APF) president for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Sriman Satya Gaura Chandra Dasa has attributed their success in the biggest-ever initiative to fight against hunger to combination of professional management and dedicated team of volunteers.
He told The Hindu here that they were able to feed 17 lakh children every day in 13 States and 2.5 lakh in A.P. and T.S. by guaranteeing quality and timely delivery due to adoption of a professional approach and use of technology. “We are today making 11 tonne rice, curry with four to five tonne vegetables and three tonne of dal,” he said.
Asked to comment on their expansion plans, he said their focus would be in fighting against hunger in India to see to it that none of the children was denied education for want of a healthy meal.
“We have already opened a meal distribution scheme to serve 2,000 underprivileged people in London. We do have plans to introduce the meal scheme abroad,” he said.
Stating that the APF was founded in Bengaluru in 2000, he said they were getting lot of fund support from institutes like Infosys Foundation. Chairperson of Infosys Foundation Sudha Murthy would open the largest charity kitchen in Hyderabad next month.
At Annapurna Canteens introduced by Great Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, APF is supplying hygienic meals at ₹5. The remaining amount out of meal cost of ₹20 is contributed by GHMC to the foundation. The scheme, which was started with 5,000 meals, has now gone up to 45,000 due to overwhelming response.
The kitchen spread over 65,000 sft has a capacity to prepare 1.5 lakh meals.
Recalling one of their biggest challenges they had faced, he said they had been mandated to serve one lakh mid-day meals Rajasthan. “On an average three chapatis per head, they have to prepare three lakh chapatis by 9 a.m. and deliver them on time by noon. “The machine available at that time can prepare 1,000 per hour. Hence, after consulting with the manufacturer, we had to suggest a new design to produce 60,000 per hour,” he said.
Sriman Satya Gaura Chandra Dasa He said they had adopted a very rigid policy not to compromise on quality and to serve the food hot and tasty on time. Lot of planning had to be done for logistics, he said. and expressed satisfaction that some first generation beneficiaries were today working in the corporate world.
