Advertisement

Malad school claims to have received ‘plastic’ rice under mid-day meal scheme


Malad school claims to have received ‘plastic’ rice under mid-day meal scheme
SHARES

Under the Mid-day meal scheme the management of Pathanwadi Urdu Primary and High School, Malad has alleged that they have received ‘plastic’ rice. They also claimed to receive less than 50kg of quantity in the sack. For the same reason, they have approached the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the police.

However, Education officer Raju Tadvi of BMC has squashed the claims stating that the rice isn’t plastic rather they are ‘fortified with nutrition’ and addressed to the media stating, “We had issued a circular on August 4 to schools that we are now supplying rice which is fortified with nutrition and is not plastic. We had also issued guidelines that schools have to check the quantity before accepting the rice.

The Mid-Day meal scheme is provided to their nearly 450 students. To get the samples for testing the rice, BMC is all set to send a team today in the school. The parents complained to the school authorities that the rice does not get cooked even after one hour and it even becomes tough to chew. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, now they are given rice, chana, dal while earlier they were given khichdi under the scheme.

Addressing the media, the school’s principal Mehjabeen Sayyed said, “when we were distributing the rice to the parents, we found each sack only had about 30 kg-32 kg. Also, parents later complained that the rice was not cooking and while eating, it felt like rubber. The rice looks plastic. We told the parents to soak the rice for some time before cooking, but they said it still doesn’t cook.” Shabana Shaikh, principal of the secondary school said, “Our school received only 1,500 kg rice instead of 2,600 kg. The rice is inedible and we informed the school management and police and BMC. The truth will come out soon.”

The management complained at the Kurar police station where Senior Inspector Prakash Bele said that after receiving the complaint they have informed the BMC and are waiting for the test report to arrive.

RELATED TOPICS
Advertisement
MumbaiLive would like to send you latest news updates