The Indian Express   28.08.2012

Corporators give BMC a taste of mid-day meal khichdi

The humble khichdi roused strong sentiments at the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation’s general body meeting on Monday when corporators
made a 90-minute meal over the quality of food served under the mid-day
meal scheme. Around 25 corporators voraciously attacked the scheme, with
one breaking into song, and another bringing a dabba of khichdi for the
city Mayor and the Additonal Municipal Commissioner.

After standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale read out the
BMC’s budget first presented in March, BJP corporator Bina Doshi raised a
point of order against the “inedible khichdi” served in civic schools.
Bringing a neat parcel of what is served in these schools — with extra
servings and a spoon for ready-tasting — she said, “They not only need
better quality but also more variety. No one can eat the same thing
everyday — we should add dry fruits, salad and other nutritious items.”

Comparing the children eating such food to rats chewing on
garbage, Samajwadi Party corporator Yakub Memon, sent the house into an
uproar. When Mayor Sunil Prabhu asked him to focus on khichdi instead of
rats, Memon told him with a stern face: “We listen when others talk
rubbish. Now I request you to listen to me.”

Congress corporator Naina Sheth demanded that khichdi be removed
from BMC students’ diets altogether. “We need to take care of these
small children,” she said as strains of a classic tune suddenly filled
the house prompting Prabhu to take on the role of a teacher
incidentally, to request the corporator to restrain herself.

Education committee chairman and BJP corporator Vitthal Kharatmol
said, “The problem is the bad quality of rice provided by the state
government. We will soon be having a discussion with Chief Minister
Prithviraj Chavan on the issue.”

Drawing the curtains on the khichdi affair that had turned quite
theatrical, Prabhu said, “From tomorrow onwards, all headmasters and
teachers of the BMC will taste the food before it is served to the
students. If they find the quality bad, we will take action against the
supplier.”

At present, about 3.8 lakh students attending 1,174 BMC primary
schools in the city are beneficiaries of the mid-day meal scheme in
which khichdi is served as the major (or only) portion. Of these, 50,000
are provided mid-day meals by the Vaishnava society, ISKCON. Students
of BMC middle schools are served meals under the national mid-day meal
Scheme.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Mohan Adtani, who took over
from Aseem Gupta 30 minutes into the discussion, said, “ISKCON has
agreed to supply food for all BMC students but has asked for at least
three months to set up the kitchen. The state is considering setting up a
central kitchen for supplying khichdi to all BMC school students. We
will have a meeting in 15 days.”