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.”
