M A I N   N E W S

Mid-day meals on infected wheat
Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service

Nayagaon (Kharar), April 3
In the name of mid-day meals under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan project, students of government elementary schools in this part of Punjab are being supplied with food unfit for human consumption.

The students in a few schools in Kharar block are being served with insect and beetle-ridden wheat flour. Left with no option, teachers at some of these schools have dumped the sacks of wheat flour. They are now serving rice and porridge which is not of edible quality.

At Government Elementary School, Kansal village, the Tribune team saw weevil-ridden flour dumped in a class-room. A close examination of the flour revealed that it contained different types of small insects. The students, who brought the flour bags 10 days ago from the nodal-centre school at Nayagoan, said the wheat flour was covered with weevils, called susri in local parlance. The lady teacher at the school claimed that she had stopped using the flour and had switched to rice.

The authorities at Government Elementary School , Nayagaon, claimed that their wheat flour was free from insects. But this claimdoes not carry weight. Reason, the Nayagaon school functions as the centre for storing and disbursing mid-day meal items to at least five elementary schools at Nayagaon, Kansal, Karoran Kalan, Kharoran Khurd, Masol and Tanda, which form part of Kharar Block-I.

Ms Parveen, a member of the Village Education Development Committee, confirmed that she had received the complaint of insect-ridden wheat flour reaching the Kansal school. “ We are inquiring from other schools in the area”, she said

At the Nayagaon school, Ms Usha Rani, who looks after all the five elementary schools, said the stocks had been kept in a room. Sources in the Education Department admitted the flour had become unfit for human consumption due to lack of proper storage facility. “ It has been over a month that the stocks were lifted from the Punsup shop in Phase II, Mohali. Some of the schools are yet to lift the stocks”, said the sources.

The Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Mr H.I.S.Grewal, told The Tribune that he had received no complaint so far. But he hastened to add:“ I will certainly look into the matter”. The District Education Officer, Mr Roshan Lal, said after receiving such complaints, he had directed the Block Education Development Officer, Kharar-I, Ms Bhagwati Devi, to visit the school and report back. On being asked about the quality control, he said the SDMs concerned were responsible for checking the quality of the mid-day meal items.

Already plagued with problems of inadequate staff and poor infrastructural facilities, these schools claim they are virtually crumbling under the burden of the additional charge of organising mid-day meals, poor in quantity and quality. Often, students are asked to ferry the items during the school hours.

On the condition of anonymity, a number of teachers complained that a lot of time is wasted in organizing and serving food to the students, a fact witnessed during our visits to different schools in the area. The school authorities are forced to extend the recess to 40 minutes to ensure that all the students get their meals.