E-Paper
Mid-day meal: NGOs playing foul?
Mid-day meal at Primary school Jiamau comes from a primary school at Raheem Nagar, which is two kilometre away. Many primary school students have left eating midday meal because the quality of food is not good. LACK OF sensitivity and co-ordination amongst various government departments and the greed of some NGOs have left students of urban government primary schools a deprived lot as they continue to get poor quality meals.
Mid-day meal at Primary school Jiamau comes from a primary school at Raheem Nagar, which is two kilometre away .
Many primary school students have left eating midday meal because the quality of food is not good
LACK OF sensitivity and co-ordination amongst various government departments and the greed of some NGOs have left students of urban government primary schools a deprived lot as they continue to get poor quality meals. While government officials are busy exchanging letters, no action has been initiated against erring NGOs in the wake of several students taking ill after the mid-day meal.
While basic education minister Kiran Pal Singh formed a taskforce, director of the midday meal Kamran Rizvi shot a letter to the DM asking to blacklist the erring NGO supplying poor quality food. LMC chief RB Maurya too has written letters, but no strong action has been initiated against the NGO as they continue to supply poor quality food in unhygienic conditions.
Who is responsible? Government department officials avoid this question to save their skin. The contamination of food begins right from the source of the grains and continues till the cooked meal is distributed in the schools. Though on paper there is provision to stop adulteration, it is never actually exercised.
Non-availability of kitchen sheds in every school is another area that needs to be looked into. As per the provision, the meal needs to be cooked on the school premises. But since there is no kitchen shed, meals for several schools are prepared in one school and supplied to the other. The cooked meal is transported in an open van in unhygienic conditions.
NGOs engaged by the district administration for making and distributing cooked meal either distribute half-cooked meal or use poor quality edible oil in preparing the food. The midday meal cell of the education department admitted that all was not well and ordered special audit of the scheme to identify NGOs supplying poor quality food.
Says Kamran Rizvi, director of the MDM cell: “Corporators would be assigned the task of supervising the quality of midday meal prepared in the school in their areas. The exercise would be mooted to encourage public private participation.” Laxity on part of officials of district administration comes to the fore in that they failed to curb ill practices.
DM Ramendra Tripathi was not available for comment while ADM (West) JP Singh who has been entrusted the task to probe the Chhitwapur primary school fiasco said that investigation was on and action would be initiated against the culprit.
