CHENNAI: The

on Saturday witnessed a heated debate over

’s, a non-government organisation serving breakfast to the students of Chennai Corporations' schools with the main opposition, the DMK demanding that the government take over the scheme.

Participating in the debate, DMK MLA

sought to know why the government granted permission and demanded that it reviewed its decision. “When the government has infrastructure, the social welfare department should implement the breakfast scheme,” the former minister said, triggering series of responses from the ministers. When social welfare minister

said there should not be iota of doubt over government’s noon meal scheme, revenue minister R B Udayakumar rose to say it was the agency that came forward on its own.

Law minister C Ve Shanmugam said that chief minister

had only expanded the programme by offering land for centralised kitchen. "Neither funding was provided, nor land alienated," Minister K Pandiarajan said that even another NGO, Sri Sathya Sai Trust had been providing breakfast to students in Erode and Avadi near Chennai. When his turn came, DMK MLA A P Nandakumar shot back: “They offer food sans garlic and onion. Who will eat you know? That is not healthy.”

Governor Banwarilal Purohit, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his colleagues in February took part in foundation stone laying ceremony of the Foundation’s centralised kitchen in Perambur Barracks Road in north Chennai and Greames Road in Central Chennai to supply breakfast to 15,000 and 12,000 students of corporation schools. The NGO has been providing breakfast to 5,785 students since last year.