Bhatti Vikramarka Launches School Breakfast Kitchen in Madhira

Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka on Monday inaugurated a temporary Centralized Community Kitchen in the Madhira Assembly constituency to mark the statewide rollout of a free breakfast scheme for government school students. The initiative aims to provide nutritious morning meals to 2.7 million students across the state.

The central kitchen in Madhira will initially supply breakfast to government schools spread across 16 mandals. The programme is being executed in partnership with the Hare Krishna Mission, which utilizes highly mechanized and hygienic kitchen infrastructure. According to the Deputy Chief Minister, permanent centralized kitchens will be constructed and made operational across Telangana within the next three months. In addition to hot breakfast, the government is providing students with milk three days a week and ragi malt on the remaining three days to tackle nutritional deficits.

Addressing a public meeting during the launch event in Madhira, Vikramarka emphasized that the Congress-led People's Government is committed to ensuring that no child goes to school hungry. He explained that children attending classes on an empty stomach struggle to concentrate on their lessons and focus on their education. The free breakfast scheme, announced in the recent State budget, covers two million government school students and 700,000 residential school students across Telangana.

During his address, Vikramarka strongly countered critics who describe government welfare initiatives as freebies, terming those opinions half-baked. He stated that welfare measures are direct government investments in human resources, on par with investments made in industrial development and public infrastructure. He described human resources as the greatest asset of the state, emphasizing the need to nurture students into world-class talent to drive future progress.

Recalling his earlier People's March from Adilabad to Khammam, Vikramarka noted that his direct interactions with citizens regarding poor school facilities, unemployment, and housing shortages shaped the government's current welfare agenda. He added that alongside the breakfast scheme, the administration is also constructing Indiramma houses worth Rs 5 lakh each for homeless families across the state.