Civic bodies inspect agencies serving mid-day meals

A day after 21 children died after consuming mid-day meal in a school in Bihar, the three municipal corporations reviewed the functioning of agencies supplying food to 9.5 lakh-odd students in 1,800 schools of Delhi.

A day after 21 children died after consuming mid-day meal in a school in Bihar, the three municipal corporations reviewed the functioning of agencies supplying food to 9.5 lakh-odd students in 1,800 schools of Delhi.

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North Delhi mayor Azad Singh conducted a surprise inspection early on Wednesday of kitchens of NGOs that supply mid-day meals to the corporation’s schools in Budhpur, Alipur and Ranhaula.

The mayor, who was accompanied by additional commissioner (education) MSA Khan and additional director (education) Jasram Kaim, instructed those in charge to ensure that mid-day meal samples were sent to Shriram Laboratory for quality testing.

“Strict instructions have been given to all schools of the North corporation to ensure that no mid-day meal is served to children before being tested for its quality by the five-member committee constituted for this purpose in each school,” Singh said.

Satish Upadhyay, chairman of the education committee of the South corporation, said the civic body takes special care of the mid-day meals served to children in its schools.

“We have divided midday meals among three NGOs — Ekta Shakti Foundation, Iskon Food Relief Foundation and Jay Gee Humanitarian Society. They supply food from large kitchens located in Uttam Nagar, Badarpur and Sultanpur, respectively. I personally visited the kitchens to check the facilities,” Upadhyay told HT.

According to rules, every child must be provided minimum 200gm cooked food which must have 440 calories and 12gm protein.

“Every school has a team, including the principal and teacher, mothers of any three children, and a local kalian samiti member to monitor the food served,” Upadhyay said.

Godfrey Pereira of Jay Gee Humanitarian Society, which supplies meals to 45 schools, said great care was taken to serve the best food. “We buy ISI-certified food material. Hazard technology is used to ensure best quality,” Pereira said.