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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Meal fiasco makes Munda see red by ASRP Mukesh

Meal fiasco makes Munda see red by ASRP Mukesh

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published Published on Dec 9, 2011   modified Modified on Dec 9, 2011
-The Telegraph
 
An encounter with hungry children at a government-run school left chief minister Arjun Munda apoplectic with rage on the second day of his road trip through Palamau.

Munda’s interaction today with students of Classes I and III of Rajkiya Utkrisht Mahavidyalaya at Chhattarpur, about 35km from the Daltonganj circuit house, began with a question from him: “Kaisa lag raha hai, khana theek milta hai (How are you liking it, are you getting food)?”

What followed was a barrage of complaints from the till then awestruck tots. “Sir, bhook lagti hai par khana nahi milta (We feel hungry, but we don’t get food),” piped up Class III student Pavan Singh. “Masterji kahte hain khana milna band ho gaya (The teacher says we will not get food any more),” added another.

The chance visit to the school turned out to be a harsh lesson in failure of the government machinery for which a district education officer was later suspended.

According to the school authorities, they ran out of rations for midday meals two months ago. Since then, requisitions for rations to the district administration and the human resource development department had failed to evoke a response.

The immediate fallout was a sharp dropout rate among the 120-odd students who attend Classes I to VIII.

“Why will we keep students hungry if we had proper arrangements at our disposal?” retorted principal Manoj Pathak.

Mincing no words, another school official advised the chief minister to visit the 220 primary, project and middle schools in the region to see for himself the pathetic state of affairs.

“Dropout rates don’t fall by launching schemes but by their implementation at all levels,” he said.

At the school, not only were the children deprived of midday meals, there was no provision for drinking water as well. Though there were two hand pumps, they were in such poor shape that it took Munda 10 minutes to pump out a trickle of water.

“How will these children stay here if they have to pump for so long to get water? This will just tire them out,” said an agitated Munda. He lost his cool even more when someone from the crowd shouted: “Mundaji yahan saare school ka yehi haal hai. Ranchi ko bahut der se malum chalta hai. (Mr Munda, the story is the same in every school here. It’s just that Ranchi gets to know it very late).”

For Palamau deputy commissioner Puja Singhal, there was no passing the buck. “I will look into this personally,” she tried to assure the chief minister, whose rejoinder was sarcastic to say the least. “Why do I always get answers in future tense? Why is that the district administration isn’t aware about simple things or situations here,” he wanted to know.

Minutes later, speaking briefly to The Telegraph, the chief minister said he was happy that officials were in full attendance but was shocked about the midday meal scheme. “This is a grave issue and I am not going to compromise on pinning accountability — be it school officials or the deputy commissioner,” he said.


The Telegraph, 9 December, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111209/jsp/frontpage/story_14858626.jsp


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