Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday inaugurated the state-of-the-art centralised kitchen, Akshaya Patra, set up by ISKCON at Atmakur in Mangalagiri mandal here on Friday.
The Akshayapatra Foundation (ISKCON) will prepare the food required for the midday meals here in the centralised kitchen and supply it to schools.
Bhoomi puja
Later, Mr. Jagan performed bhoomi puja for the construction of Hare Krishna Gokula Kshetram, which is being constructed by ISKCON at Kolanukonda in Tadepalli mandal of Guntur district at a cost of ₹70 crore. The facility will have temples of Venkateswara Swamy, Radha Krishna, Kala Skethramulu, Yoga centre.
Ministers Cherukuvada Sriranganadharaju, Adimulapu Suresh, Vellampally Srinivas, MPs, MLCs, MLAs, and ISKCON representatives were present.
CM serves food
The 30-odd girl students of ZPHS, Atmakur were in for a pleasant surprise as the Chief Minister went to the serving side of the table and filled their plates with vegetable biryani and sweets demonstrating his interest in the Goru Muddha mid-day meal scheme. He has always been particular about the mid-day meal programme and made it a point to mention about the menu details during his review meetings on the subject and education.
The organisers had a wide spread of menu for the special occasion with three sweets — halwa, kova and kala jamun — and two starters gobi manchuria and masala vada. The main course had a traditional flavor spiced up to match the occasion which include, vegetable biryani, kaju tomato curry, raita, rice, stuffed brinjal curry, potato fry, mango dal, gongura chutney, sambar, curd and kulfi for dessert.
Mr. Jagan later went through the centralised kitchen and the organisers told him about its functioning and the capacity before entering the dining hall where he posed with the students before the mid-day meal.
Later, Mr. Jagan flagged off the delivery vehicles which were donated to the Akshayapatra for delivering food to the schools. The kitchen has the capacity to cook for 50,000 children. The freshly cooked meals would be delivered to schools through three delivery vehicles.
