By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 15 Jul: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inaugurated the 63rd Centralised Mid-Day Meal Kitchen in collaboration with Akshaya Patra Foundation, The Hans Foundation, and the Education Department at Sudhowala here today.
On this occasion, the Chief Minister also flagged off vehicles for transporting mid-day meals to children of various schools. He also sat down with the school children and had food during the programme and even interacted with them, answering their questions. He tried to satisfy their curiosity by responding in detail.
Dhami said, “Due to the collective efforts of the Uttarakhand Government, Akshaya Patra Foundation and Hans Foundation, high quality and nutritious food will be provided to school children. For the present, this mid-day meal has been started for more than 15 thousand children of 120 schools. In a short time from now, food will be arranged for more than 35 thousand children of more than 500 schools through centralised kitchens. Children are the future of the country. Every effort is being made to ensure that they have a healthy life and get proper nutrition.”
Dhami added, “Commendable work is being done by Hans Foundation in the field of health and education. During the Corona period, all possible help was given by Hans Foundation to the needy in the state, for which I express my gratitude to the founders of Hans Foundation, Bhole Maharaj and Mangla Mata.” The Chief Minister said that Akshaya Patra Foundation has also started work in Uttarakhand for which he expressed gratitude. Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat said that, with the help of Akshaya Patra Foundation, The Hans Foundation and Education Department, a centralised kitchen has been started in the state. Delicious and nutritious food would be served to school children under the Prime Minister’s Nutrition Programme. Mid-day meals are being provided by the government to more than five lakh children in the state, he reminded. Dr Rawat said that with the joint efforts of Hans Foundation and Akshaya Patra Foundation, the second integrated kitchen has been started in the state, today. Before that, the integrated kitchen had been started in Gadarpur. The state government is providing free books and bags to children from class one to class X. Along with this, all kinds of arrangements are also being made in the schools so that the children do not face any problem in their studies. Rawat disclosed that free medicines are provided to 22 lakh children in a month. Free health check-up of the children will be done when the school opens, along with free medicine distribution.
Founders of Hans Foundation Bhole Maharaj, Mata Mangala, Vice Chairman of Akshaya Patra Foundation Chanchalapati Das, MLA and former Education Minister Arvind Pandey, MLAs Sahdev Pundir, Munna Singh Chauhan, Secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram, Director General of Education Banshidhar Tiwari and officials of the Education Department were also present on this occasion.
