MANOJ SINHA
Ramgarh, Jan 18: Nutritious food will be provided to the children of government schools through Akshaya Patra in Hazaribagh and Ramgarh districts of Hazaribagh parliamentary constituency.
Akshaya Patra has got the responsibility of its implementation in Ramgarh also after Hazaribagh. Ramgarh centralized kitchen will be prepared in Kaitha to provide food to about 50 thousand children.
Food will be prepared on a local basis using farmers’ and local people’s produce. This project will begin in 2024. On Monday, the district administration, Akshaya Patra, and CCL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the auditorium of the Deputy Commissioner’s office.
Under CCL CSR head, Rs 15 crore will be given for construction and Rs 7 crore will be given for a centralized kitchen. District officials became witnesses to this MoU in the presence of MP Jayant Sinha.
After the meeting, MP Jayant Sinha said to the reporters that this is a historic moment. Providing nutritious food in schools leads to all round development of children, this also makes a big difference in the attendance of children in schools.
During the review of the District Mineral Fund in Disha’s meeting, he also took information from many officers. He said that a community park would be constructed at a cost of about Rs 7 crore in front of the collectorate itself from DMF itself.
Apart from this, a stadium will also be constructed in the district ground. About one thousand Anganwadi centers of the district will be converted into upgraded play schools.
“We have suggested to the district administration that computer labs should be made from the District Mineral Fund in 72 high schools of the district,” the MP said.
Backlog works worth Rs. 800 crores in the district have ended. Now new jobs are being taken. CCL will also give Rs. 1 crore for beautification in Bijulia pond. Apart from this, the MP reviewed various departments of the district in turn.
After signing the MoU, Swami Vyompadadasa of Akshaya Patra said: “Our organization is providing mid-day meals to about 20 lakh school children in 12 states and 55 places of the country in collaboration with the Government of India and the state governments. It has been a big challenge for the government to bring food to the farmers in far flung villages.”
Akshaya Patra started about 20 years ago in the year 2000 in Bangalore. The organization started with four to five hundred children from the school near its temple. The effect of this was that children from nearby schools also started coming to the same school to have food. After this, teachers from other schools contacted him and they gradually started preparing food for 30,000 children in Bangalore and taking it to schools.
CCL GM (CSR) L Balakrishnan said that CCL will provide food to 50 thousand children of 86 schools of the district through Akshaya Patra. It was successful only due to the efforts of Coal India’s Chairman Ramgarh resident Pramod Agarwal and CCL CMD PM Prasad. After the MoU, 50 percent of the amount will be made available to the district administration soon.
