Fantabulous social service feat

Vishal Joshi

The ISKCON Food Relief Foundation has completed 10 years of providing midday meal under the successful public-private participation (PPP) programme in Kurukshetra district.

The foundation, managed by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), is working with the state authorities to cook and serve a sumptuous meal to more than 35,000 students of various government schools in the district every day.

The foundation has an ultra-modern kitchen at Mirzapur village on the outskirts of Kurukshetra city where food is cooked under hygienic conditions.

Narayan Das, manager of the foundation, looks after the midday meal scheme. He says all government schools in Pehowa, Thanesar and Ladwa blocks have been covered under the scheme.

He says the ISKCON foundation takes the midday meal operations purely as a social responsibility where the state government gives a subsidy for food preparation. “The project was started after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government in 2008. We have completed 10 years in the service. We get donations from general public for the social project,” he adds.

“Nearly 42,000 students are enrolled in various government-run primary and middle schools in these three blocks and we prepare food for between 35,000 and 36,000 students every day. Food preparation is based on average attendance in the schools,” says Narayan Das, a volunteer.

The work in the kitchen begins at 4 am on all working days and the food is ready for packaging in the next three hours.

“Before dispatching food to identified spots, every container is sealed for safety reasons. Utmost care is taken to ensure hygiene and health standards of food,” says Das.

Black grams, ‘kadhi’ and rice, vegetable ‘pulao’ and ‘kheer’ are among the main diets for rural children.

District elementary education officer Satnam Bhatti says that the midday meal food served by the foundation is examined regularly. He adds that the state government provides wheat and rice to the foundation.

“The food quality has been reported to be satisfactory by the field staff. We have a provision of imposing a penalty if any discrepancy in food quality is found. The project is going on smoothly,” says Bhatti.   

Hygiene, health standards ensured

All government schools in Pehowa, Thanesar and Ladwa blocks have been covered under the scheme. Before dispatching food to identified spots, every container is sealed for safety reasons. Utmost care is taken to ensure hygienic and health standards of food.— Narayan Das, manager of ISKCON Food Relief Foundation