Centre asks Chandigarh to stop mid-day meal from centralised kitchens

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 5

The Program Approval Board’s (PAB) appraisal note of the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Scheme of Chandigarh has raised the problem of less utilisation of food by children at government schools as their parents have shown reluctance to food supplied by centralised kitchens in the UT.

The Centre stated: “The Chandigarh Administration should discontinue the existing system of food supplied by centralised kitchens. Further, the UT should create a set up in which food is cooked and served in school-based kitchens for better coverage under the MDM Scheme.”

As per the analysis of the utilisation of food grains during the first three quarters of 2019-20, the UT had utilised only 46 per cent of the allocated food grains, whereas the consumption should have been at least 75 per cent, as laid down by the Centre.

It has been learnt that the parents have been demanding that they will allow their children to have food only when the meal will be cooked in school-based kitchens.

Only 51 per cent students at primary level and 42 per cent students at upper primary level consumed mid-day meal. District Education Officer Harbir Anand said, “Parents have been demanding that students should be given food that is freshly prepared in school kitchens. The meals in centralised kitchens are prepared a night in advance as these have to be transported the next morning. We are in the process of constructing new school-based kitchens.”

There are three centralised cooking institutes (AIHM-42, CIHM-42 and CITCO 17) and seven school-based cluster kitchens in Chandigarh for distributing meal among around 93,762 students.

Action plan for 2020-21

Tasting of meal

One or two parents should be present while meals are served to the students, so that they can taste it and their statements should be recorded in the mid-day meal register.

Testing of meals

A provision of Rs4 lakh is being made for sample testing of cooked food by three centralised kitchens and seven school-based

cluster kitchens once in a month from the NABL accredited government-approved lab during 2020-21.

Non-AC taxi for inspection

The UT Education Department will hire a non-AC taxi during 2020-21 for inspection of centralised/school-based kitchens. For this, a provision of Rs4.32 lakh is being made, which was presented in the 2020-21 Budget.