Sec 47 mid-day meal centre shut down

Sec 47 mid-day meal centre shut down 

The UT Education Department today shut down the Sector 47-based centralised mid-day meal centre on a permanent basis. The centre, which was responsible for cooking and delivering mid-day meals to over 13,000 students, was found wanting in hygiene and lacked proper arrangements for cooking and storage.

Mid-day meal being cooked in a dingy room at the GMSSS, Sector 47, Chandigarh. A file photo

In July this year, Chandigarh Tribune had highlighted the pathetic conditions in which the mid-day meal was being cooked for students.
The mid-day meal centre, run by a private contractor, was being run from four dingy classrooms at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 47. Two of the rooms had no ventilation. There was a demand for the past many years to either close it down or shift it to a hygienic location.
UT Education Secretary VK Singh said the centre was creating problems in the smooth implementation of the central mid-day meal scheme. “In view of a number of complaints against the centre, we have decided to shut it down. Its load will now be shifted to the other three centres looking after the mid-day meal scheme in Chandigarh," he said.
Chandigarh has a centralised system for cooking and delivering mid-day meals to government schools.
Earlier, four central mid-day centres -- the Chandigarh Institute of Hotel Management, Sector 42, Dr Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management, Sector 42, Shivalikview Hotel, Sector 17, and the Sector 47-based outlet -- were responsible for preparing mid-day meals for over 70,000 eligible government students in the city every day.
With the Sector 47 outlet having been shut down, an official said the load of this centre had equally been shifted to the remaining three centres.
A mid-day meal supervisor said these three centres had a good infrastructure to cater to the additional load.
“These days, the mid-day supply is erratic because mid-terms exams are under way in government schools. The exact load of each of these three centres will be known only after the exams (from October 1 onwards),” he said.
Meanwhile, the Education Department is also focusing on decentralising the mid-day meal scheme by opening up separate school-based mid-day meal kitchens in government schools. So far, school-based kitchens are in operation in seven government schools. Three more kitchens are under construction. www.teacherharyana.blogspot.com (Recruitment , vacancy , job , news)