Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (CN)

Bangalore, Aug 6: Corporation Bank has donated Rs 12 lac to the Akshaya Patra Foundation, the world's largest NGO-run school meal programme, to commemorate the opening of its 1001th branch, recently. The bank has also now touched the one lac crore target in business.

Speaking on the occasion, Samba Murthy, chairman and managing director, Corporation Bank, said, 'We are happy to support Akshaya Patra which is doing noble work for the welfare of the state and the people. Ours is a small gesture which we hope will prompt many others to do the same.'

 Basavaraj Bommai, minister for water resources, handed over the cheque to Sridham Krishna Das and Karunya Sagar Das of the NGO, in the presence of P Chidambaram, union finance minister. The Akshaya Patra foundation currently feeds over 9.4 lac children in over 4,500 government, as well as government-aided schools and 'anganwadis' in 14 locations, across across the country every day.

The locations served by Akshaya Patra are Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Bellary, Mangalore, and Mysore, in Karnataka, Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh, Jaipur, Nathdwara, and Baran, in Rajasthan, Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh, Puri, and Nayagarh, in Orissa and Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

'With the addition of every new sponsor, more and more needy children are being enabled to learn even as they are fed at least one wholesome meal a day. Thanks to institutions such as the Corporation Bank our goal to feed one million children by the end of this decade is getting much closer,' said Madhu Pandita Das, of the foundation.