Visakhapatnam: The Akshaya Patra Foundation has laid the foundation for a centralised hi-tech kitchen with a capacity to prepare 10,000 meals per hour at Gambhiram village of Anandhapuram mandal in the district on Monday. Divis Laboratories has contributed Rs 7.5 crore to the NGO for setting up the first-of-its kind kitchen in the state. Free Polio Surgical and Research Foundation of Prema Hospital donated one acre land on lease.
“Food security is one of the major concerns of our country. We are able to come together to address this persistent impediment,” said Satya Gaura Chandra Dasa, president of Akshaya Patra Foundation AP and Telangana. Currently, the non-profit organisation has a centralised kitchen at Autonagar that serves food to around 23,500 children in 92 schools of the city every day. The new hitech kitchen will be operational by September and is expected to help the NGO prepare mid-day meals for more beneficiaries, he said.
The foundation is planning to set up more kitchens in other districts of the state to serve mid-day meals to government schoolchildren. It is currently serving wholesome school lunch to over 1.6 million children from 13,529 schools across 11 states of the country. The state government supports the ambitious programmes by providing land parcels as well as 55 per cent of funds utilised in the NGO’s schemes.
AP government passed a GO to allot 4-acre Simhachalam endowment land in Prahaladapuram. The temple executive officer is yet to sign on the order. The NGO also expects land in Vizag agency area to offer mid-day meals to tribal children. Apart from Visakhapa-tnam district, Akshaya Patra has centralised kitchens at Kakinada, Nellore and Amaravati in the state. It is setting up a kitchen across a 3-acre land in Srikakulam and identifying land to set up another in Rajahmundry.
According to this NGO, the state government has granted 200 acre la-nd in Anantapur district to initiate its most-awa-ited project, the National Talent School, where education from kindergarten to post graduation would be provided free of cost. It has plans to establish such schools in every state.
