Worm-infested rice for mid-day meal in Mokokchung town

EMN Dimapur, March 9 The trouble for Mokokchung’s public distribution services seems to be getting murkier. Even amid the recent unearthing of the Public Distribution scam in the town, another scandal is up: local organizations have alleged ‘worm-infested’ rice meant to be given to students under the mid-day meal scheme. A local youth organization expressed horror at the discovery on Wednesday. The Mokokchung Town Lanur Telongjem (MTLT) issued a press release stating it was “horrified at the old and worm infested rice being distributed to the different schools under Mokokchung town under the Mid Day Meal (MDM) Scheme by the School Education department.” The MTLT said to have received complaints from various quarters about low-quality, old and ‘worm-infested rice’ being supplied by the establishment of the sub-divisional education office of Mokokchung. The organization said to have undertaken a visit to various government primary and middle schools under Mokokchung town on March 9, “for gathering first hand information about the uneatable rice being distributed to the schools.” “Sure enough, the MTLT were shocked to discover bags of rice in different government schools were found to be uneatable: the bags of rice were found to be very old, infested with worms and simply not fit for human consumption,” the press release stated. “This kind of rice cannot be eaten even by pigs,” was the common comment expressed by different teachers at the different schools, the MTLT stated. “The students had to skip their midday meal since the school authorities could not take the risk of feeding such spoiled rice to their children.” The youth organization expressed appreciation to the schools for “abstaining from preparing the rice since it would cause severe health problems to the students.” There have been cases of food poisoning in some Indian states where children were taken ill after taking mid-day meals, the organization stated. “If such rice, as those worm infested rice, is also fed to our children, then surely there would be health issue among the students, the MTLT stated and urged the department in concern to immediately replace the rice and redistribute good quality rice to the schools. “The MTLT is aware that the MDM scheme is a centrally sponsored scheme, and surely the central government would not distribute such low quality and unhealthy rice to be fed to the innocent students. Therefore, the MTLT questions as to how the directorate of School Education, Kohima (DOSE) could distribute such worm infested rice without checking its quality.” The MTLT also appealed to the schools not to fed the unhealthy rice to the students but make every effort to replace the rice with better quality ones. “If there is any reported case of food-poisoning in any of the schools in Mokokchung town after feeding the unhealthy rice, then the concerned authority would be held responsible.” The organization also questioned the Food Safety Officer (FSO), of the department of Health & Family Welfare for the apparent negligence in not inspecting the MDM rice before distribution. The MTLT said it has taken this issue seriously “because the health and education of the young students are at stake.” The MTLT strongly hopes that the authority in concern would immediately take necessary action and replace the unhealthy spoiled rice with good quality ones, so that the students are not deprived of their rights. The organization has also urged the district authorities to intervene and redress the matter.