The Centre on Tuesday has asked all States to put in place a contingency plan to deal with incidents like the Bihar mid-day meal tragedy. Through a video-conferencing with all the heads of education departments of State/UTs, HRD Secretary R Bhattarcharya asked States to ensure strict compliance of guidelines like teachers tasting food before it is served and procurement of foodgrains in sealed containers.
Bhattacharya, who held deliberations with 35 State/UT secretaries/principal secretaries in wake of the incident, emphasised on an effective contingency plan to tackle such untoward incidents.
The Secretary directed the States to adhere strictly to guidelines such as teachers and a member of the school management committee tasting the food before it was served to the children.
The meeting is understood to have discussed the good practices followed in States like Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra where the food grains and oil are procured in sealed containers.
Chhattisgarh came in for praise because of active community participation in implementation of the scheme.
Some structural issues about the execution of the scheme and the lacunae also came up for deliberation.
Meanwhile, the new
monitoring committee announced by the Ministry will not only review effective monitoring of the scheme but also ensure quality, safety and hygiene aspects.