Goa withdraws mid-day meals

Goa has suspended its mid-day meal scheme, launched a week back, following complaints of primary school students vomiting and falling sick.

The scheme would be now implemented only in the next academic year after it is tested in the remote taluka of Sattari.

Chief minister Manohar Parrikar had initially denied the students were fallening ill, but later suspended the scheme after constant badgering from the opposition in the assembly.

The public is equally furious with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party after school children in Bicholim received food packets infected with fungus.

Parrikar had announced the mid-day meal scheme in the last budget session following a Supreme Court directive to supply cooked food to primary schools in all the states.

Goa, however, had decided not to use the poor quality rice from the centre since no primary school in the state is run for the full day.

It was thus replaced with food packets to be supplied during intervals, while filing an affidavit before the court in this regard.

The food packet contained groundnut 'chikki', biscuits, sweet bread, vegetarian cake, 'chivda' and 'basen laddu'.

Teachers found fungus on the cake and bread as it was supplied a day later.

Fortunately, none of the students who have fallen ill are in serious condition, as most of the teachers decided not to supply the food packets while alert parents also instructed the children not to consume it, as soon as the news broke out.

When the issue was raised in the assembly, members from both the treasury and the opposition benches agreed that the scheme should continue as many children go to school on empty stomach and sometimes faint due to hunger.

Parrikar agreed to set up a committee to monitor the quality of the food as well as the supply network, while replacing fast perishable items like sweet bread and cake with other nutritive items, which will have at least a week's shelf life.