Kadapa’s smart kitchen sheds to launch on June 1

District Collector Sridhar Cherukuri on Tuesday (May 12, 2026) directed officials to complete the construction work of the smart kitchen sheds by May 28, conduct two days of trial runs, and ensure that the official launch can take place on June 1 as scheduled.

The officials were instructed to ensure that all necessary infrastructure is in place ahead of the reopening of schools after the summer vacation.

The district was in the news after it launched the centralised kitchen system to implement the Dokka Seethamma Midday Meal Scheme, a key initiative of Minister for Education Nara Lokesh.

The Collector’s idea was to provide nutritious and delicious meals to school children through a dedicated network of kitchens. This system allows for prior planning in fixing the order by monitoring the school’s online attendance register, thus curbing food wastage. The project involves ₹24 crore, which is entirely sourced from NITI Aayog, CSR funds and external agencies, with no burden on the State exchequer.

The system also ensures that food is supplied through designated GPS-enabled vehicles and that utensils are returned to the kitchen by the prescribed time. Both processes are monitored through an effective messaging (SMS) system, similar to those used by food aggregators.

The highlight of the entire system is its ability to reduce the carbon footprint in the long run, with the government planning to develop kitchen gardens to naturally grow vegetables and pulses, use renewable energy sources for cooking food, implement biodigesters to turn kitchen waste into manure, and finally deploy 90 electric vehicles for transportation. The system is run by SHG women to ensure transparent administration.