Watery midday meal: FIR lodged against Sitapur school principal, cook after video goes viral

The administration swung into action and suspended the school principal, Kalpana Verma and cook and lodged an FIR against them

Uttar Pradesh’s basic education department has lodged an FIR and suspended the principal of a government primary school and a cook following complaints of sub-standard mid-day meal being served to students in Sitapur district after a video went viral on social media.

The meal served to students at a Sitapur government school recently (Sourced)

A probe has been ordered in this regard, said BSA Sitapur over the phone on Thursday.

“In a viral video said to be of July 3, some vegetables dropped in water and burnt chappatis was served to students. The cook in her statement had confessed that poor quality food was being served to students at a government primary School in Sitapur district,” said BSA Gorakhnath Patel.

After the video surfaced, the administration swung into action and suspended the school principal, Kalpana Verma and cook and lodged an FIR against them

A district administration official in Sitapur said, “We have taken this matter of poor quality mid-day meals at Primary School Chhangapur in Mahmoodabad seriously. We sent the basic education officer for an on-site inspection, along with the block education officer. During the preliminary investigation, the viral video was found to be genuine. Taking cognizance of the matter, the school principal has been suspended with immediate effect. The cook working there has also been dismissed from service.”

A team comprising basic education officer (BSA) Gorakhnath Patel and the ABSA visited the school. During the investigation, the children corroborated the details seen in the video, stating that they were frequently served poor-quality food.