Kakinada Municipal Corporation to cancel midday meal contractors
Visakhapatnam-based voluntary organisation ‘Akshaya Patra’ to get the meal contract
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-06-02 06:14 GMT
Kakinada: The Kakinada Municipal Corporation (KMC) is planning to cancel all the midday meal contractors in municipal schools in the city on the charges of bad quality of food. KMC will give the responsibility of supplying midday meal to Akshaya Patra, a Visakhapatnam-based voluntary organisation.
According to KMC officials, there are 67 municipal schools in the city and 67 women’s groups are running the midday meal programme. “There are many complaints from the parents against the groups. They groups could not supply quality and sufficient food to the students.
The KMC special officer and also the district collector H. Arun Kumar are very keen on to set right the scheme for the welfare of the students” said KMC Commissioner S. Govinda Swamy. However, according to sources, a political leader influenced the administration to give the midday meal contract to the organisation.
This move has been opposed by the midday meal workers. They staged an agitation in front of the collectorate and submitted a memorandum to Kakinada MLA Vanamadi Venkateswara Rao who expressed his helplessness in this issue. The MLA said that the groups are not able to supply quality food to the students.
The Midday Meal Workers Association leader Lakshmi Sujatha said that they are striving hard to supply good food to the students as they feel they are like their own children. “If the officials find fault with the food and the attitude of the midday meal workers, they can suspend them. But, all the midday agreements should not be cancelled,” she appealed to the MLA.
The MLA said the matter would be discussed with the officials. The Association honorary president G. Baby Rani said that they would intensify the agitation, unless the officials withdraw the new proposal.