A week after a dead rat was found in a mid-day meal served at a government school in south Delhi, which led to the hospitalisation of nine students, the Chief Secretary of Delhi government, MM Kutty, had directed all the serving top IAS and DANICS officers to visit around 1,100 schools across the city and prepare a detailed report on the quality of food and the manner in which the NGOs were serving it to the kids.
Kutty issued the direction to the city bureaucrats late on Monday night, after it was revealed that the owner of the NGO involved in the dead rat incident, Kunwar Pal Singh, is the father-in-law of Ajay Dutt, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Ambedkar Nagar. Singh is the director of NGO Jan Chetna Jagriti Avom Shaikshanik Vikas.
The officers, reportedly, visited the school on Tuesday only to realise that everyone, from students to staff members, was aware of the surprise inspection. "Somebody leaked the information to the NGOs and the food was prepared accordingly," a senior IAS officer said. "We will carry out the inspection again," the officer added.
Kutty's order had stated that currently, 33 vendors supplied food to schools through 33 decentralised kitchens in Delhi. "Considering the importance, it has been decided that senior IAS officers will inspect kitchens, especially at the time of cooking, to assess and evaluate the performance of the kitchen," it read.
Kutty had further said the "inspection should cover every aspect of the mid-day meal scheme, including kitchen transportation, storage, quality, and taste of food served in all the 1,100 schools". "A comprehensive inspection report covering all the aspects of the mid-day meals scheme, with suggestions for improvement, may kindly be submitted to the Secretary, Education, by Thursday," the order had stated. He had asked all the top officers, including 33 heads of departments and Revenue Department officers. No report, however, could be made.
Last week, an FIR was registered under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) when nine students of the Government Boys Senior Secondary School in Deoli fell ill after consuming the meal and had to be rushed to Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital. Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister, Manish Sisodia, then visited the students and said a committee had been formed to probe the matter.
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