Worm found in midday meal

The residents of Shil village were enraged when a worm was found in the midday meal of a student in a civic school on Friday. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has cancelled the contract of the women’s organisation responsible for serving the meals.

The residents of Shil village were enraged when a worm was found in the midday meal of a student in a civic school on Friday. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has cancelled the contract of the women’s organisation responsible for serving the meals.

The parents complained of repeated bad quality of the khichdi served as midday meals in the schools.

Babu Munde, one of the residents, said, “One student found a worm in the khichdi on Friday and complained to the teacher. She informed the principal and women’s organisation that provides the meals to the school. They were told to be more careful next time. However, other parents also said that the quality of the meals have been deteriorating over the years, thus we all went to the TMC and showed them the picture of the meals with worms.”

Manish Joshi, education officer of TMC, said, “We found out that a worm was found in the khichdi. The contract of the organisation is cancelled as we received complaints that the quality is poor. We also saw for ourselves and were not happy with the meals. Moreover, we have served a notice to the principal for ignoring the issue for a long time.”

Joshi said that a centralised kitchen for the students of civic schools will ensure such incidents are not repeated. The food will be packed and sent to all schools under supervision of the corporation officials in case of centralised kitchen.

Munde said that they have demanded that the organisation providing the meals should be suspended and a new organisation given the contract.