Akshara Dasoha
Shri. Sha. Bra. Chandrashekhar Shivacharya Mahaswamiji, is following the tradition of Panchacharya and has shown equal interest in kayaka dasoha too. He believes that a hungry man should be first given food and then education, besides promoting Kannada in the border areas, he has also started Kannada schools.
The Karnataka government too has paid attention towards the development of the students and they are the real wealth of the land and every child should first be educated. And to increase attendance in schools, Guruji has started free midday meals in schools, under ‘Akshara Dasoha Scheme’ and for this scheme to be successful everyone’s cooperation is a must.
With permission from the government, he has availed all the material required and everyday good quality food is provided to the hungry students. If one has to work then food is a must, and one cannot do any productive work on an empty stomach. The area belonging to Hukkeri math about three kms away has been used for setting up the required infrastructure and starting the dasoha. He followed the principle ‘Dasoha Shivam’ and for salvation devotion is a must. Hukkeri Hiremath’s Mahaswamiji’s trust has been running the ‘Anna Dasoha’ since the last 15 years and in his list of contributions to society anna dasoha is like ‘cuppola’ above temple tower.
Anna Dasoha Kendra
The dasoha is spread in a total of 10 Acres and located at Renuka Nagar, spread on three acres on the road between Hukkeri and Chikkodi and a school located on the same premises on another three acres. Sh. Chandrashekhar Shivacharya Mahaswamiji, has a tender from Government since 2004 under the Mid-Day meal scheme and Rice and Sambhar given to the children deprived of nutrition. Under the Government scheme 100 gms of rice and other pulses to be mandatorily given to every child in need of adequate malnutrition and a chart has been made for the same. Wheat also given as grant and the Government gives a fixed amount per child. Two ayahs (maid servants) work in every school and their salaries are borne by the government.
In Hukkeri and Chikkodi taluks about 65000 children are fed mid day meals everyday and the food is provided by the math and it is located. Each day in Hukkeri taluk 150 primary, 50 secondary, 18 upgraded schools and 64 schools in Chikkodi mid day meals are supplied. Milk leaves at seven AM and supplied to all schools before 10 AM and thrice a week, Pulav, Shira and Upma served mostly on Saturdays and this goes separately. Jeera rice served on Wednesday, pulav on Saturday and huggi (porridge) and shira (sooji halwa) are also part of the diet. During festivals different food items supplied and on August 15 and biscuits distributed .
The food preparation starts early in the day and by 9.30 AM, the food is ready and travels a distance of 100kms; 80 bags of rice is used every day and each bag weighing 60 kgs; to prepare sambar, four quintals vegetables are chopped by women within four hours. A vegetable cutting machine also used on the premises and a Boiler which uses one ton of wood daily generates 12000 litres of steam and it is used in cooking the food on such a huge scale.
Aluminium vessels with the capacity of 1200 ltrs water, 25 quintals of tur dal, 210 ltrs of oil and two quintals vegetable and the right quantity of spices, and daily one ton firewood is used to fire up the boilers and to make the food nutritious.
The premises are clean with a good building used for cooking food with highly modified kitchen, drinking water is used for cooking. For cooking hot water from two big boilers is used, and at any given time 60 kgs of rice is cooked from 12 stainless steel containers within 30 minutes. 60 quintals of rice is cooked and distributed to schools feeding a total of 65000 children.
For the 1st time in Belagavi district such a systematic hygienic kitchen has been built on an industrial scale. The food grains and cereals are stored in a big store room and rations for one full month is properly stored. To keep the vegetables and perishable commodities fresh, there is a provision for central refrigeration and fully furnished with the right equipment for cleaning the rice, groceries and other food products.
A rice polishing machine installed along with a 25 KV generator for power back up. For cleaning and washing bore wells have been dug and two underground tanks have been built.Most of the employees have been selected by Guruji and they come from the neighbouring rural areas and they have been employed close to their villages and 50 women work daily and clean utensils and wash the vegetables. 30 drivers work efficiently and deliver the cooked food daily and within four hours the food for the school children is ready and is dispatched to nearby schools at the right time. And they pick the utensils and bring them back to the depot and they are punctual in their work. Every month health check up camps are regularly conducted for the kitchen cooking staff.
There are plans to open some more branches to rural areas in need of quality food. Another similar branch has started operations at Nainglaj (Chikkodi taluk) and the same type of branch supplies food to the designated schools nearby. The food reaches every school two hours in advance. The dasoha at Renuka nagar is run on similar lines like Adam Chaitanya and Iskcon. There is no wastage of food and it’s a crime to waste it.
