Kolkata, Sept. 14 -- The Bengal government has withdrawn its approval for the Akshaya Patra Foundation to supply cooked mid-day meals to state-run schools in four districts, putting on hold the planned expansion of the centralised kitchen system beyond Kolkata.
An order dated September 11 said the approval granted to the foundation on August 21 to provide mid-day meals under the PM POSHAN scheme had been withdrawn by the competent authority. The order directed that "no further action" be taken.
Under the August 21 approval, the foundation was to supply meals through a single-window mega-kitchen model to schools in Bidhannagar, Dum Dum and Rajarhat-New Town in North 24 Parganas, parts of Howrah and Purulia, and the Nandigram-I and Nandigram-II blocks in East Midnapore.
The approval, conveyed to Chanchalapathi Dasa, co-founder and vice-chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, followed a proposal submitted by the foundation to the Chief Minister on July 11.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.