MCD flags NGOs serving mid-day meals for using foul ingredients

Teachers from MCD schools stated that they found stale food in the mid-day meals sent to their schools very often.

A senior official of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) flagged violations, such as expired ingredients and contaminated food, in centres which prepare mid-day meals for students. Penalties and show-cause notices have been issued to the centres.

MCD flags NGOs serving mid-day meals for using foul ingredients

Deputy chairman of MCD’s education committee, Anit Khadkari, last month visited three NGOs which supply food to MCD-run schools.

“When I visited the kitchens, I found many violations. Most striking being that pouches of tobacco were lying all around and when asked about the condition, the workers could not explain. Some sacks of ingredients were expired, while many did not have the manufacturing or expiry dates on them. The kitchens also did not have functioning fly traps,” said Khadkhari.

The official had visited Dalit Manav NGO in the Narela zone, and two centres run by NGO Rao Ragubhir in central and south zones. A show cause notice has been sent to these centres, seeking a response on the condition.

“The Dalit Manav NGO has been fined ₹40,000, while the Rao Ragubhir NGO has been fined ₹25,000. We are awaiting replies from them. We are regularly visiting other centres to check for violations,” he said.

Teachers from MCD schools stated that they found stale food in the mid-day meals sent to their schools very often. “Sometimes the food smells really bad, sometimes it’s not cooked properly and is watered down. We even find rats and cockroaches in the food. We have been facing such incidents for a long time now,” a teacher from an MCD-run school said.