Akshaya Patra’s midday meal scheme for children delayed

Regulatory sanctions for central kitchen modernisation came late, says the NGO

Civil work under way at the Akshaya Patra’s central kitchen in Puducherry.

The implementation of the midday meal programme for children by the Akshaya Patra Foundation, a non-profit wing of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon), in 292 government schools in the Union Territory, will take more time because of the delay in the modernisation of the central kitchen at Lawspet.

As per the memorandum of understanding signed between the territorial administration and Akshaya Patra, NGO was supposed to start the programme this month. However, the delay in getting regulatory sanctions from agencies, including the Pondicherry Planning Authority, for making structural changes in the central kitchen before new automated cooking machineries were installed, led to the delay of the programme.

“The necessary clearance was obtained recently for the kitchen modernisation work. The NGO has started civil work in the central kitchen. We expect them to roll out the programme in four or five months,” a senior official in the Education Department told

The Hindu .

According to the official, the central kitchen at Lawspet will be modernised by the Akshaya Patra Foundation at a cost of ₹13 crore.

The existing government kitchen at Lawspet would be modernised where meals would be prepared for about 50,000 children, extending up to 1 lakh children. The NGO would operate vehicles to transport food to schools.

The NGO was finalising donors for incurring the recurring expenditure involved, said the official.

The Centre funded 60% of the cost of midday meals programme.

As per the MoU, the territorial administration would transfer the Central share of about ₹4 crore to ₹5 crore, which it received annually, to the Akshaya Patra, said the official.

So far, the administration had been bearing 40% of the cost of running the programme. But under the new arrangement, the NGO would bear this component of the expenditure. “We came to know that the NGO has identified the donor for sustaining the programme,” he said.

Standard menu

As per the MoU, the NGO would provide sambar rice twice a week while variety rice such as tamarind rice, tomato rice and vegetable pulao would be served for the rest of the week.

In addition, nutritious food such as vegetable curry, boiled black channa (sundal), sweet pongal, curd and payasam would be served, the official said.

The department would make alternative arrangements to serve eggs to the children along with meals provided by the NGO, the official added.

Till the NGO rolled out the programme, the Education Department would continue to serve food from its 11 kitchens.