Huge quantity of mid-day meal rice found rotten at Govt central Jabri school Baramulla

Baramulla, Jul 21: A huge quantity of rotten mid day meal rice infested with insects and emitting foul smell was found lying in the storeroom of Government Central Jabri School Baramulla on Monday.

The presence of such a huge quantity of rotten rice, around 30 quintals has raised serious question over the management and accountability of the mid day meal scheme, which in the absence of the accountability system poses a serious threat on the health of the poor students.

The students too have complained of spotting insects inside the prepared meals and despite their concern, the school authorities had not bothered to take right steps in this direction. “There is often a foul smell emanating from the stored rotten rice,” said one of the student. “The same rotten rice is being prepared for us,” he said.

The Govt Central Jabri School Baramulla has a great significance as it is one of the oldest school across north Kashmir that was setup by Maharaja Hari Singh as one of the first five ‘forced’ schools in the pre 1947 Kashmir to impart skill and education to the students of the Baramulla.

The Jabri School is functioning as a cluster school, by merging seven schools under the government’s school rationalisation policy and has more than 200 students on its roll.

With such a large number of students enrolled, the presence of huge quantities of rotting rice raises eyebrows over both procurement practices and food stock monitoring.

“Either school authorities are receiving mid day meal rice against fabricated students roll or have not been able to prepare meals for all the students enrolled. People are struggling to receive requisite rice quantity while here a government run school has wasted such a huge quantity of the rice,” said Muhammad Ashraf, a local resident.

He said it seems that either excessive quantities were requisitioned without proper assessment of actual requirements or there was gross negligence in its distribution and utilisation.

Under the Mid-Day Meal scheme, the Department of School Education procures the required quantity through the Public Distribution System (PDS). The rice is then supplied to schools via the local "ration depots" (government fair price shops), on a monthly or quarterly basis depending on enrolment figures and meal plans.

Each school receives a fixed amount of rice based on the number of students and the number of school days, as per norms set by the Ministry of Education. Headmasters or school in-charges are responsible for lifting and properly storing the rice, and for maintaining stock registers.

However, in this case, it appears that either excessive quantities were requisitioned without proper assessment of actual requirements or there was gross negligence in its distribution and utilisation.

When contacted, Chief Education Officer Baramulla, Bashir Ahmad Shah, said that the issue had been brought into his notice and an inquiry had been initiated.

“A committee of officials under the district Planning officer (DPO) had been constituted. The committee will submit its report within a short period and accordingly action will be initiated,” he said.