HYDERABAD: The
Telangana government will extend the mid-day meal scheme to over five lakh students studying in government junior colleges, model junior colleges, degree, polytechnic, and B Ed colleges in the state from the next academic year.
Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has given in-principle nod for the programme, has asked a cabinet sub-committee to make recommendations on the implementation of the scheme. The state government has been implementing the mid-day meal scheme in all government schools for the past few years.
A cabinet sub-committee lead by deputy chief minister Kadiyam Srihari and ministers Eatala Rajender, T Harish Rao and A Indrakaran Reddy met on Saturday and discussed the issue of extension of the scheme to colleges from the next academic year.
The committee has asked Akshaya Patra Foundation to submit proposals on providing mid-day meals in colleges with three options -one, providing meals, including the cost of the provisions, second providing meals without including the cost of provisions and the third one being supplying lemon rice and food with millets. Akshaya Patra has been providing food to five lakh people in the GHMC area through the
Annapurna scheme. The committee members also asked the foundation to check on the facilities for kitchens in all the 31 districts of the state.
The cabinet committee also decided to get proposals from hotels and messes nearby colleges on supplying mid-day meals to educational institutions. The ministers would discuss the issue in detail in the next meeting to be held on August 3.