Akshaya Patra to feed school children in city

The Bengaluru-based Akshaya Patra Foundation, a non-governmental organization who provide mid-day meals to school children, is all set to enter the city, and serve the children in the capital region. A delegation of the foundation met the Krishna district Collector Babu Ahmad here on Tuesday and held preliminary discussions on supplying quality food for school and Anganwadi children.

The Delegates explained to the collector that they are functional in states like Karnataka, Telangana, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Mizoram. They have also briefed the Collector about the mid-day meal served by the organization for the children in Visakhapatnam and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. They have offered to extend their services to the capital region for which the State government had already allocated land near Mangalagiri.

The Municipal Commissioner G Veerapandian, who was also present at the meeting told the Akshaya Patra Foundation representatives, Maga Vishnu Das and Vamsadhara Das that they have 105 municipal schools in the city with over 22,000 children who need mid-day meals. He wanted the representatives to extend their services to these children. The Collector further asked them to prepare a project report for the work at the earliest which will have to be cleared by the State government.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation delegates informed the Collector that they have also received representation from the neighbouring Guntur district which is also part of the capital region. He said that they would be able to start the services once the government cleared the project. The foundation representatives also met the local MP Kesineni Srinivas, who had initially invited them to extend their services in the capital region.