CHENNAI: After expressing interest in introducing breakfast scheme for primary schoolchildren in their state, senior officials from Telangana visited Tamil Nadu to understand the nuances of implementing the Chief Minister’s breakfast scheme on Thursday. They visited a centralised kitchen and two schools and interacted with officials in charge of the programme.
Secretary to Telangana Chief Minister Smita Sabharwal, tribal welfare secretary Christina Z Chongthu and Education Secretary Vakati Karuna, officer-on-special duty in the Chief Minister’s Office Priyanka Verghese and special secretary and commissioner, women and Child Welfare, senior citizen Bharati Hollikeri were among officials who visited the state.
They visited the centralised kitchen at Royapuram and saw the food being prepared, learnt about the duties of the staff there, and how the food is being checked for quality and transported in a timely manner to the schools. They then visited the Corporation Urdu Primary School at Aarathoon Road in Royapuram and interacted with the students, the beneficiaries of the scheme.
The officials also visited the Panchayat Union Middle School in Alinjivakkam to understand the challenges in implementing the scheme in rural areas. Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme coordinating officer K Elambahavath, officials from the social welfare department and the corporation were present during the inspection.
Speaking about the visit, officials of the Tamil Nadu government said that their Telangana counterparts have come down to understand the feasibility of implementing a similar scheme in their state.
“The Chief Minister’s breakfast scheme has attracted the country’s attention. Since they are interested in implementing the scheme in their state, senior officials from Telangana had contacted the Tamil Nadu government to inspect the implementation,” said a press release from the state government.
The CM’s breakfast scheme, which was started in 1,543 schools on September 15, was expanded to all 31,008 schools across the state for children studying in classes 1 to 5 on August 25.