Tribal students in Palghar stage sit-in over stale food; demand kitchen system scrapped

Hundreds of tribal students from residential schools in Maharashtra's Palghar district have staged a protest, demanding the immediate scrapping of the central kitchen system over alleged supply of stale and unhygienic food.

Expressing concern over the threat of food poisoning due to long transit times, the students took out a march and staged a sit-in demonstration at the Tribal Development Project office in the Jawhar area on Tuesday to voice their grievances.

The students alleged that food prepared at the centralised facility and transported across long distances was delivered in inferior, stale, and unhygienic condition.

They submitted a 13-point charter of demands to the project officer addressing severe administrative neglect and persistent mismanagement regarding basic welfare and facilities across residential ashram schools run by the Tribal Development Department.

The students refused to withdraw the protest until their demands were met. Later, officials assured them that food quality would be improved, following which the students called off the agitation.