Bihar govt faces flak for making teachers sell used bags of midday meal scheme

Bihar Primary School Teachers Association (BPSTA) president Brajnandan Sharma cited the suspension of a Katihar-based teacher ”without any enquiry” and called it too stringent a measure

The Bihar government’s directive to teachers to sell gunny bags used to supply mid-day meals (MDM) in schools has met with criticism, and even led to a teacher’s suspension.

Representational Image. (HT archive)

Bihar Primary School Teachers Association (BPSTA) president Brajnandan Sharma cited the suspension of a Katihar-based teacher ”without any enquiry” and called it too stringent a measure.

“Every individual’s level of understanding and his perspective on a particular issue is different. Teachers resent such directions,” he said, adding that MDM duties affect their work. However, he said he had no issue with the government seeking a report on gunny bag sales.

In his letter dated July 22, to district programme officers, the director of MDM scheme in Bihar, issued instruction that proceeds from sale of empty gunny bags be maintained in a separate account, in a prescribed format, and a report be sent within a week’s time. The government has fixed ₹10 as the price for each gunny bag.

This comes in the wake of an audit of records related to MDM scheme, conducted by Accountant General Office, which detected a loss to the state exchequer as no financial records pertaining to the sales had been maintained.

The director of MDM scheme has issued instruction for sale reports in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Amitabh Kumar Das, a former IPS officer and the chairman of The Bihar Viplavi Parishad, has criticised the government order, saying it was against the dignity of teachers to sell used gunny bags. Das has written to principal secretary of education department to recall this order.

In Katihar, the suspension of a contract teacher for a video showing him selling used gunny bags has taken another turn. The teacher, Md Tamijuddin posted at Primary School Kantadeeh, was suspended on August 8 and departmental proceedings initiated against him. He has now released another video in which he can be seen appealing to the chief minister to revoke his suspension order with a film song.

He said, “After the order for selling used gunny bags was issued, I tried to sell them in school and when no takers turned up as the government has fixed price ₹10 for each bag, I decided to sell them in the market just to obey the order of the department.” He added, “Many of the bags were damaged by flood waters .”