E-Paper
Mid-day meal in soup again
An insect in the food supplied to children of a primary school in Takhwa in Gomti Nagar created furore here on Tuesday. This comes too close on the heels of children taking ill at the primary school in Chhitwapur after vitamin dose was administered to them prior to the mid-day meal.
An insect in the food supplied to children of a primary school in Takhwa in Gomti Nagar created furore here on Tuesday. This comes too close on the heels of children taking ill at the primary school in Chhitwapur after vitamin dose was administered to them prior to the mid-day meal.
On seeing the insect in the daal-palak (spinach) and rice served to her, Ragini, a student of Class-III of the school, informed her sister Madhuri, who is in the fifth standard in the same school. The latter in turn brought the matter to the notice of the school’s teacher Manorama Devi Pandey. Attempts by Pandey to persuade the children to carry on failed as all the students’ left their meal mid-way following the incident. Interestingly enough, the school’s principal has not reported for duty since July 2005. He attended the school on May 6 and went on leave again from August 1, 2006. The school in the meantime is being run by Pandey, who said the principal was busy with election related work.
The meal was prepared at the educational institute’s central kitchen located in Vibhuti Khand of Gomti Nagar. It was served to the children at around 1.15 pm.
On getting the news the zonal health officer of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC), Dr PK Sharma reached the spot and took the plate containing the food. He summoned the area’s food inspector Pravin Verma. The insect was put in a bottle. The preliminary inquiry by the ZHO revealed that Ram Mahila Kalyan Samiti was supplying meal to the school.
Later, the report was submitted to municipal commissioner RB Maurya, who said strict action would be taken against the agency supplying the food. Here, it is pertinent to mention that the authorities are yet to initiate action in two similar cases related to supply of contaminated mid-day meal that were detected recently. While one was related to a school in Thakurganj, the other took place on December 2 in a primary school in Madhopur. The basic Shiksha adhikari was asked to lodge an FIR in both the cases and blacklist the agency that supplied the food. No action has been initiated the matter so far in.
