New mega midday meal kitchen
By The Telegraph
August 24, 2018
After the success of its centralised midday meal kitchen in Jamshedpur for East Singhbhum, Annamrita Foundation operated by Iskcon Food Relief Foundation will set up the second such facility in Kolhan at Chaibasa in West Singhbhum for piping hot and healthy school lunch.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming midday meal kitchen took place at Zilla School Chaibasa on Thursday.
The West Singhbhum kitchen will start operating within 13 months from Thursday and serve midday meals to 63,000 children of 523 schools across eight blocks.
The overall cost of infrastructure to set up the kitchen will be over Rs 10 crore, to be given by Tata Steel. The state government has already given 1.8 acres for the project. Annamitra will look into the everyday operations of the kitchen.
Two agreements - between Annamitra and state government and Annamitra and Tata Steel - to this effect were signed on Thursday.
West Singhbhum DC Arava Rajkamal as chief guest, Tata Steel vice president (corporate services) Sunil Bhaskaran, Jusco managing director Tarun Daga, Tata Steel corporate social responsibility chief Sourav Roy, Annamrita Foundation vice-chairman Sanjay Tikku and others were present at the event hosted by Tata Steel, through its CSR delivery arm.
"Children of West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand will really gain from this initiative. We are happy to collaborate with Annamrita and Tata Steel to provide quality nourishment to our young population. We assure the team of all support," said DC Rajkamal at the event.
Tata Steel's Bhaskaran said they were committed to partnering the progress of the community.
"Once operational, this midday meal kitchen will help ensure that children of our neighbourhood are well-nourished during the process of their education," he said.
Annamitra's existing midday meal kitchen in Jamshedpur started in 2012 and caters to 60,000 students in some 400 schools in East Singhbhum.
Like East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum is also among the 19 districts of Jharkhand and 115 in India chosen under the Niti Aayog's Transformation of Aspirational Districts.
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