PM Modi in Varanasi, inaugurates midday meal kitchen that will feed 1 lakh students

Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated the Akshaya Patra midday meal kitchen at the LT College in Varanasi which has the capacity to feed as many as 1 lakh students.

This was Prime Minister Modi's first visit to his constituency after the BJP won the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.

As part of his visit, Modi is slated to launch and lay foundation stone for development projects worth Rs 1,774 crore focused on improving infrastructure and ease of living, officials said.

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh | Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates Akshaya Patra Mid-Day Meal Kitchen which will have a cooking capacity of 1 lakh students pic.twitter.com/dZHEsHJor5

— ANI (@ANI) July 7, 2022

PM Modi along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath inspected the newly-inaugurated kitchen. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with CM Yogi Aditynath, inspects the newly inaugurated Akshaya Patra Mid-Day Meal Kitchen in Varanasi, UP pic.twitter.com/7pBMFKDP3c — ANI (@ANI) July 7, 2022

Reacting to the launch, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the kitchens should be started at all 11 places proposed during the SP regime.

"At the time of SP's rule, the Akshaya Patra Yojana was started for providing nutritious and hot food to students. In the last five years, the BJP government kept it closed. But, now fearing the anger of students and the youth, it is compelled to start this scheme," Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.

सपा के समय छात्रों को पौष्टिक व गर्म आहार हेतु शुरू की गयी ‘अक्षय पात्र योजना’ को पिछले 5 साल में तो भाजपा सरकार ने बंद रखा पर अब भाजपा के ख़िलाफ़ छात्रों व युवाओं के आक्रोश से डरकर ये योजना भाजपा सरकार मजबूर होकर शुरू कर रही है।

सपा के समय प्रस्तावित सभी 11 जगहों पर ये शुरू हो! pic.twitter.com/tqmq433dbg

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 7, 2022