Telangana Cabinet panel relishes, okays mid-day meals for govt colleges

​Hyderabad: A Cabinet sub-committee on Friday tasted the nutritious food prepared by Akshaya Patra Foundation and asked the latter to go ahead with supplying it to all government colleges across 31 districts.

Committee Chairman and Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari, along with members T Harish Rao, Eatala Rajender, Jogu Ramanna and Indrakaran Reddy briefly discussed about the new scheme of mid-day meals to government colleges to be launched, at the Secretariat.

All of them tasted the lip-smacking food items served by foundation members at the Secretariat here on the occasion. Followed by a directive from Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, the committee decided to implement the mid-day meals scheme and sought a report by August 6. The foundation representatives said they would submit it in three to four days. It would launch six new kitchens in addition to the existing kitchens in Narsingi, Kothagudem, Mahbubnagar and Warangal, the foundation members said.

The foundation was also instructed to consult if necessary with nearby hotels and messes to take their help to supply food to the colleges in the districts. Once launched, it will provide nutritious food to about 5 lakh students in all government colleges including Junior, Degree, Professionals, B Ed, D Ed, Poly Technic and Model Junior and others. It was also asked to submit a report on the plan for nutritious food items to be served to the students across the State.

It may be mentioned here that the noted Akshaya Patra Foundation was asked to implement the new scheme. The committee sought the food items including pulihora, black rice, upma, korralu, jonnalu, ragulu and sajjalu. Education Principal Secretary Ranjiv Acharya, Higher Education Commissioner Navin Mittal, Inter Board Secretary Ashok, State Model Junior Colleges Director Satyanarayan Reddy and other officials were present.