Chandigarh, April 22, 2019 (Yes Punjab News)
Hot, freshly prepared Mid-Day Meals are being served to children in schools of Andhra Pradesh, informed Mr DP Reddy, Chairman Food Commission, Punjab.
He said that during the recent visit of Chairman and Members to Andhra Pradesh, the State Government organized a visit to Akshay Patra’s centrally mechanized kitchen in order to show how hot and freshly cooked food was being prepared for Mid Day Meals to be served to school children.
This model is quite impressive; proper centralized kitchens are set up at a place to cater to requirements of School children within the radius of 25 km. GPS mounted vehicles are used for transporting food to schools.
In order to get review and get detailed information about the system, a meeting was held with the representatives of Akshay Patra and Iskon group, informed the Chairman and added that the meeting was also attended by Mr. Krishan Kumar, IAS, Secretary Education and by Mrs. Amrit Kaur Gill, Director, Social Security, Women & Child Development Department Punjab along with officers of their Departments.
Mr. Reddy said that Raghupathi Dass, a representative of Akshay Patra group showed his willingness to start a similar initiative in Punjab in case the Education Department gives a go ahead to the proposal.
They are already supplying Mid Day Meals in 12 States under this scheme since 2000. The representative of Iskon group informed that they are also working on the same lines as Akshay Patra. Both assured to follow similar pattern in Punjab.
Exploring the possibility of covering food for Anganwadis, besides mid day meals, the Chairman sought suggestions from the representatives of both the organizations and was informed by the representatives of Akshay Patra that they can do so for Anganwadis, as well and were presently supplying to Anganwadis in a number of States.
The Secretary Education suggested to introduce the scheme on a pilot basis initially and recommended a pan Punjab roll-out only after the success of the pilot project. He expressed his willingness to involve both Akshay Patra and Iskon group in Mid Day Meal scheme.
He further desired that a copy of MOU signed by them with other States may be supplied to him. It was finally decided that one district each may be given to Akshay Patra and Iskon group on a pilot basis after detailed study of the project. Secretary Education also suggested that the Education Department will send a group of teachers to visit centralized kitchen being run by Akshay Patra in Rajasthan to see the proper functioning of Mid Day Meal therein.
