Akshaya Patra inaugurates new kitchen in Panvel, Maharashtra

The new unit Akshaya Patra’s 68th kitchen in the country will enable it to impact the lives of over 10,000 children and their families in the region

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a pioneer in providing mid-day meals to school children, inaugurated its new centralised kitchen in Panvel, Maharashtra. The new unit is Akshaya Patra’s 68th kitchen in the country and 4th in Maharashtra. It will enable the organisation to implement the government’s flagship school feeding programme, PM POSHAN, and serve 10,000 children in 70 schools to address classroom hunger and promote education.

The newly inaugurated kitchen can cook approximately 20,000 nutritious meals every day. Initially, it will serve over 10,000 hot, nutritious mid-day meals to children across 70 local Municipal and Zilla Panchayat schools and eventually scale up to serve more children. The menu, meticulously crafted to combine nutrition and variety, caters to the local palate with over 12 diverse recipes like mixed dal, pulao, chole, jeera rice, sambar, khichdi, and sweets, along with bananas as mandated by the Government of Maharashtra.

As a norm, Akshaya Patra kitchens emphasise sustainability, with over 70 per cent of its power needs met through solar energy. This commitment extends to water conservation through integrated rainwater harvesting systems. The project also contributes to the local economy by indirectly providing employment opportunities to 50 locals and 100 women.