Kolkata: Iskcon will start serving cooked midday meals to 309 state schools in Kolkata from Saturday, benefiting around 30,000 children. The programme will be inaugurated by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari.Of the 309 schools, 178 are in north Kolkata and 131 in south. The food will be prepared at two common kitchens.An official said more than 2 lakh students at 1,851 state schools in the city received midday meals. While 309 schools were selected for the new scheme in the first phase, the remaining will follow the earlier system, under which self-help groups would serve the food, the official added.A spokesperson for a self-help group said, “We serve over 30 schools in north Kolkata, but we have never dealt with such uncertainty. We are not getting any proper instruction from the education department.” Several self-help groups said they had been informed that some of their schools were dropped from their list as Iskcon would serve midday meals there.
