Madhya Pradesh: Digest this...In Alot village of Ratlam district, only rice in mid-day meal platter for students

Alot (Madhya Pradesh): Students of primary and secondary schools and the kids coming to Anganwadi centres in Kishangarh village of district have been served only rice in their mid-day meal for the past one month. This came to fore during a surprise inspection conducted by gram panchayat sarpanch Dilip Singh Tanwar, Narayan Singh Patel and panch Shiv Singh Tanwar.

The gram panchayat representative said that during the inspection it was found that the self-help group engaged for serving the mid-day meal has not been serving full meals to the students and Aanganwadi kids.

As per the mid-day meal menu set by the government, it is mandatory to include chapati, dal, rice and vegetable in the meal to ensure that children get a balanced diet.

However, flouting the norm, the self help group was found serving only rice to the children as their mid-day meal.

On being questioned, the self-help group president Gayatri Bai and secretary Parvati Bai said that group contractor Rajendra Singh Solanki manages the funds allotted by the government for the meal. Solanki merely provides Rs 500/day for the meal expense and the rest of the amount is unaccounted.

So with the amount allotted, they could only afford rice for the children during the mid-day meal, the duo said.  

Meanwhile, Kishangarh education committee president Ram Kunwar Patel said that he had received a number of complaints about meal quality from the education centres of the village. He assured to take the necessary actions against people found flouting the rule. Notably, the mid-day meal here is being run on a contract basis, which is against the rules, he said.