Special Correspondent
Panaji
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said the arrival of Akshay Patra Foundation in Goa to supply mid-day meals to school students should not be interpreted as the termination of services of self-help groups by the government, who carry out the same task.
Earlier, the Chief Minister inaugurated Akshay Patra Foundation’s 78th centralised kitchen in the country at the Pilerne Industrial Estate, Saligao, with a capacity of 5,000 meals per day.
Sawant, who also holds the education portfolio, said the Foundation will presently serve students of classes IX and X on
trial basis.
“Such students from schools located in Saligao, Calangute and Siolim jurisdiction will be served food cooked at the centralised kitchen,” he added, further pointing out, “Although we are not stopping the existing mid-day meal suppliers, more such self-help groups will not be roped in, while the existing ones will have to maintain the quality of service.
The Chief Minister also maintained that the government is proud to provide nutritious and well-balanced meals to school students through this initiative.
He announced that this programme will be soon extended to South Goa schools, thus ensuring that more children will be benefitted from healthy and wholesome meals for their well-rounded growth.
Sawant also said the government has plans to utilise the kitchen to provide food service to other government establishments such as prisons, hospitals and so on in future.
“The facility has been set up by spending more than Rs 3 crore,” he revealed.
Later, the Chief Minister joined students for their first meal served by the Foundation under the mid-day meal scheme.
Saligao MLA, Kedar Naik, education secretary Prasad Lolyekar, North Goa collector Sneha Gitte and vice-chairman of the Foundation Chanchalapathi Dasa were present on the occasion.
As a standard practice, Akshaya Patra serves food in accordance with the local palate across the country to improve consumption. In Goa, the Foundation’s menu will include items like chapatis, batata bhaji, vatana bhaji, vegetable korma, idli, sambar, soya chunks, mix-veg pulav, etc.
Expressing his happiness over the launch of the new centralised kitchen, Madhu Pandit Dasa, founder and chairman of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, said: “The launch of our first kitchen in Goa marks a significant milestone in Akshaya Patra’s journey, and we are deeply grateful to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, and the Goa government for their steadfast support in making this a reality. Our partnership with the state government will enable us to serve nutritious mid-day meals to children in the state in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi vision of Poshit Bharat Shikshit Bharat.
Chanchalapathi Dasa said: “We will leverage all our capabilities to serve the children in this region and support their health and education.”
He thanked the Chief Minister for his support for this project.
