Good deeds of people will remain forever, but not the material wealth and assets, said Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao while addressing a gathering of children here on Wednesday.
“Yesterday, I was in Chennai to attend the funeral of the late J. Jayalalithaa, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and these very thoughts came to my mind,” said Mr. Harish Rao in an emotional tone.
He laid the foundation stone for a modern mega kitchen here. This kitchen will be established by the Akshaya Patra Foundation, with the help of the Infosys Foundation, which is headed by Sudha Murthy, wife of Infosys Founder Narayana Murthy.
“Nobody imagines Ms. Sudha Murthy to be so simple. She is the mother to lakhs of children, whom she has been feeding nutritious food. We are grateful to her,” he observed. Ms. Sudha Murthy contributed Rs. 18 crore for the construction of the mega kitchen here, which will come up with modern facilities. The Government would extend all the help required to Akshaya Patra for completion of the project, the Minister said. The Government had tied up with Akshaya Patra for extending food at the market yards at Rs. 5-a-meal,” he said. The Government has been providing food for pregnant women by spending about Rs. 600 core per annum, in the State.
“I am happy to associate with Akshaya Patra Foundation. God gave us wealth to help others. We hope that people from Hyderabad will also contribute for this project to run,” said Ms. Sudha Murthy.
Akshaya Patra Foundation chairman Madhu Pandita Dasa informed that Infosys Foundation has been associated with them since 2000 and that Ms. Sudha Murthy was feeding more than 16 lakh children across the country. He said that help was always forthcoming from the Infosys Foundation.
