At meet to discuss mid-day meal, BMC members lose cool over sandwiches

Charity, they say, begins at home, or something like that. A more shining example of that would be harder to find than at that esteemed institution, the Brihamumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), whose Education Committee members at a recent weekly meeting looked ruefully at their white-bread-and-cheese sandwiches and assorted snacks, and bemoaned the unhealthy food they had to consume in the line of duty. 

Indeed, some of the members even compared the insipid fare they were served to the mandatory mid-day meal that is dished out to students of municipal schools and wondered aloud how children were expected to eat khichdi (boiled rice and lentils) day after day. After all, these worthies are barely able to stand their weekly taxpayer-funded snack, if their indignation is anything to go by.  

The meeting, incidentally, was called to discuss the mid-day meal, on which the civic body spends the princely sum of Rs 65 crore annually to provide a lunch — typically khichdi, usually served cold — to eight lakh primary school students from Class I to VII.

Ritu Tawde, member of Education Committee and ex-chairman of the committee said, “(The) Same snacks served to us in each weekly meeting gets boring. Imagine if grown ups like us feel this way, then think about children who are served same khichdi every single day as mid-day meal. And that too it is not hot when served.” 

In the ultimate insult, or perhaps just a moment of utter desperation, Tawde went so far as to say that even a cup of tea would be better than the sandwiches. As per the Food Security Bill, a mid-day meal should have 400 calories and 12 grammes protein nutritional value for students of Class I-V and 700 calories and 18 gm protein nutritional value for students of Class VI-VII. A white bread-cheese sandwich, by comparison, has about a little over 250 calories. 

Tawde was supporting a point of order raised by Congress member Priyatama Sawant, who said that in private schools, NGOs contracted for the mid-day meal serve a variety of meals which are delicious, wholesome and filling. Children are fussy by nature and if they are served the same thing every day, they will not eat it, Sawant had contended. 

Adding to Sawant’s point, Tawde said that the issue of changing the menu of the mid-day meal had been under discussion for the past few years. "Each time we raised the issue, we are assured that the civic administration is working on the same. But nothing happens," Tawde said.

In a heartwarming nod to their commitment to healthy eating, the esteemed members also had a word or two to say about the nutrition value of the snacks. 

 In fact, Sheetal Mhatre, Shiv Sena member in the Education Committee, went so far as to reject the plateful of snacks offered to her, demanding the replacement of white bread with more healthy options. Organic multigrain, perhaps? 

It was not immediately known if this demand was voted upon. 

Mahesh Palkar, BMC Education Officer, said that the state government’s guidelines only give the option of preparations from dal and rice. Ergo, khichdi, either with lentils or green peas, or dal-and-rice is served.  “However, if the committee decides to change the menu, a separate committee of members from the civic administration and the members of education committee can discuss the issue seeking help from the nutrition experts of civic -run hospitals. The outcome can then be forwarded to state government as a suggestion,” he said.