KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday inaugurated ISKCON's mega kitchen in Kolkata, from where mid-day meals will initially be supplied to 44,000 students in 500 state-run and aided schools, while announcing that the state government will separately provide boiled eggs twice a week.
Adhikari took part in a 'yajna' before formally inaugurating the facility at Taratala in the south-western part of Kolkata.
"Initially, ISKCON will serve mid-day meals to 44,000 students in 500 Kolkata schools. Within the next three months, mid-day meals will reach 2.5 lakh students. The allocation has been increased to Rs 10 per meal per student," he said.
The chief minister said the state government would separately provide boiled eggs to students twice a week through self-help groups (SHGs), in addition to the meals prepared by ISKCON.
"Balanced nutrition will help in children's overall development," he said, thanking the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) for the initiative.
Adhikari said no mid-day meal cooks, who had been preparing the food so far, would be retrenched, and his government had already enhanced their remuneration from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 per month.
After the inauguration, the chief minister visited the kitchen and participated in the preparation of mid-day meals. He also flagged off electric vehicles that will transport the meals to schools.
Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Agrawal and School Education Minister Dipak Barman were present at the event. Around 40 students from five schools also attended the inaugural programme.
The initiative aims to streamline the preparation and distribution of food under the state's mid-day meal scheme through ISKCON, officials said.