On 3 January, 2024, The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s new centralised kitchen in Panvel, Maharashtra, was inaugurated by Shri Deepak Vasant Kesarkar – Cabinet Minister for School Education and Marathi Language, Government of Maharashtra, and MLA – Sawantwadi Constituency. The new unit—built with the support of Ms Vandana and Mr Ravi Tilak, Sarva Mangal Trust and the Saxena Family Foundation—is Akshaya Patra’s 68th kitchen in the country.

Other dignitaries at the inauguration ceremony were Ganesh Deshmukh – Commissioner, Panvel Municipal Corporation; Pankaj Dahane – DCP, Navi Mumbai Police; Bharat Rathod – Additional Commissioner, Panvel Municipal Corporation; Smt Suvarna Dakhane – Assistant Commissioner, Panvel Municipal Corporation; Paresh Thakur – Ex-Sabhapati, Panvel Municipal Corporation; Smt Kirti Mahajan – Administrative Officer, Panvel Municipal Corporation and Sunil Bhople – Deputy Education Officer. On behalf of Akshaya Patra, Chairman, Shri Madhu Pandit Dasa, Vice-Chairman, Shri Chanchalapathi Dasa, and Regional President – Maharashtra, Shri Amitasana Dasa, were also present.

While it has the capacity to cook approximately 20,000 nutritious meals every day, Akshaya Patra will begin with the serving of 10,000 children in 70 local Municipal and Zilla Panchayat schools initially. 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.

Akshaya Patra has always endeavoured to address classroom hunger and promote education as a part of the government’s flagship school feeding programme, the PM POSHAN Abhiyaan. The new kitchen in Panvel will enable the Foundation to reach out to children in the region with hot, nutritious mid-day meals to support their nutrition and education.