Suvendu inaugurates ISKCON’s kitchen in Kolkata for school mid-day meals, to benefit 44,000 students
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari inaugurated a new ISKCON mega kitchen in Kolkata to provide mid-day meals to 44,000 students. The government plans to scale this initiative to 2.5 lakh students while increasing meal funding and protecting existing kitchen staff jobs.
Why it matters
This initiative highlights a public-private partnership model for improving school nutrition and welfare in state-run educational institutions.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday (August 1, 2026) inaugurated the International Society for Krishna Consciousness’ (ISKCON) mega kitchen in Kolkata , where mid-day meals will be prepared for 44,000 students of 500 state-run and aided schools in the city.
Mr. Adhikari took part in a 'yajna' before formally opening the facility in Taratala in the south-western part of the city.
"Initially, ISKCON will serve mid-day meals to 44,000 students in 500 Kolkata schools. Within the next three months, mid-day meals will reach 2.5 lakh students. The allocation has been increased to ₹10 per meal per student," he said.
The chief minister said the state government would separately provide boiled eggs to students twice a week through self-help groups (SHGs), in addition to the meals prepared by ISKCON.
"Balanced nutrition will help in children's overall development," he said, thanking ISKCON for the initiative.
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