Serving in Nepal through community kitchens
Nepal: Tata Trusts has extended its on-ground support and relief to earthquake affected areas of Nepal by setting up community kitchen in Bhaktapur serving earthquake victims of three districts (Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Kathmandu). This project has been set up in partnership with the Akshaya Patra Foundation, India and the Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha (An initiative by Sipradi Trading Pvt. Ltd.) Nepal. The Tata Trusts' centralized kitchen setup at Subakamana Party Palace, Suryabinayak Chowk, Bhaktapur was visited by H.E. Mr. Ranjit Rae, Ambassador and his team representing the Indian Embassy in Nepal today.
"The provision of thousands of meals every day to victims of the earthquake is a magnificent effort which has been made possible by a robust partnership between Philanthropic Organisations, Private Organisation and the Government.", said H.E Ranjit Rae, Ambassador of India to Nepal.
The community kitchen started serving meals from 19th June, 2015 and provides around 18000 hot meals a day. The catchment radius is approximately 30 kilometres and 17 consumption sites are being covered. The Tata Trusts' team is in-charge of the distribution and management of the consumption sites in coordination with Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha whereas Akshaya Patra Foundation is responsible for cooking and preparation of the meals.
"The Trusts' intervention, is currently filling a vital humanitarian gap and providing food to communities lodged in relief camps. The Kitchens are expected to be operational for another six months so that it gives the affected communities adequate time to reconstruct their livelihoods. To ensure that our efforts dovetail with the plans of the Government of Nepal, Tata Trusts appointed people of Nepali origin, with language fluency to facilitate an arrangement that fits well with the culture, people and ecosystem of Nepal." said Mr. Arun Pandhi, Chief Development Manager, Tata Trusts.
"Sipradi Sahayata Sanstha is honored to be working with the support of Tata Trusts and Akshaya Patra Foundation in providing 18,000 meals per day to 17 camps. Our partnership with Tata Motors spans over 30 years, and we are proud to have been chosen as local partners in our combined efforts to provide relief to the earthquake victims here in Nepal. My visit to the camps further establishes the impact this critical element of wholesome, hygenic and reliable food has had on the victims and their families." said Mr. Siddhartha SJB Rana Chairman Sipradi Trading Pvt Ltd.
Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, expressed his gratitude saying, "I wholeheartedly thank the Government of Nepal and the Embassy in visiting our centralized kitchen facility, Tata Trusts and Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha for their constant support in providing relief to the earthquake affected people. With their continued involvement, we are confident that we can provide wholesome, nutritious food to those affected in the region and offer comfort during this time."
About Tata Trusts
Tata Trusts are amongst India's oldest, non-sectarian philanthropic organisations that work in several areas of community development. Tata Trusts seek to be catalysts in development through giving grants to institutions in the areas of Natural Resources Management, Rural Livelihoods, Urban Livelihoods & Poverty, Education, Enhancing Civil Society and Governance, Health and Media Arts, Crafts and Culture.
For more information please visit https://tatatrusts.org/
About Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha:
Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha is a non-profit, non -governmental and non -political social organization in existence since 2012 . Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha was established by Sipradi Trading Private Limited to carry out its CSR activities. The organization aims to assist in the field of education by providing scholarships to the deserving needy children as well as promote adult education in remote villages of Nepal. The organization is also dedicated to help and support senior citizens, orphans and differently-abled people by every possible means. It also provides emergency relief and rehabilitation for the victims of natural calamities and disasters.
About The Akshaya Patra Foundation:
The Akshaya Patra Foundation headquartered in Bengaluru, India, executes the world's largest (NGO run) mid-day meal programme. Implementing the Government of India's Mid-Day Meal Scheme with a vision that 'No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger', the Foundation today serves over 1.4 million children from 10,770 Government and Government aided schools across 10 states in India. Akshaya Patra is currently working towards fulfilling its mission of feeding 5 million children by 2020.
Akshaya Patra has achieved the scalability and sustainability of its programme by leveraging technology to feed underserved children across India. With 10 kitchens ISO 22000:2005 certified, and the remaining in the process of certification, today Akshaya Patra's operations model has become the subject of various studies from across the world. For details, please log on www.akshayapatra.org
For Further details, please contact:
Shilpi Ghosh
Email: sighosh@tatatrusts.org
Mobile: 0989251338
Tata Trusts, Mumbai
Pritha Chatterjee
Email: pritha.chatterjee@edelman.com
Mobile: 07506354505
Rediffusion/Edelman
