In response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s sharp criticism of the Madhya Pradesh BJP government over a viral video showing children being served mid-day meals on waste papers instead of plates in a government school in Sheopur district, the state administration has taken disciplinary action.
File Photo: IANS
In response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s sharp criticism of the Madhya Pradesh BJP government over a viral video showing children being served mid-day meals on waste papers instead of plates in a government school in Sheopur district, the state administration has taken disciplinary action.
The government has removed the school’s in-charge official and cancelled the contract of the mid-day meal supplier.
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Sheopur Collector Arpit Verma ordered the suspension of the school in-charge Bhogiram Dhakad and issued notices to two other staff members.
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The district authorities also terminated the contract of the self-help group responsible for preparing meals and handed over the responsibility to the School Management Committee.
On Saturday, Vijaypur Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Abhishek Mishra, along with Ramniwas Rawat, the Congress-turned-BJP MLA from Vijaypur, visited the primary school located in Hullapur. They joined the children for a mid-day meal at the school.
Mishra said that the inspection found the meal being served properly on plates. “We also ate the meal with the children. The arrangements were satisfactory,” he stated.
“We are closely monitoring this matter to ensure that such incidents do not recur,” Mishra assured.
Earlier on Saturday, Rahul Gandhi had shared the video on X (formerly Twitter), expressing outrage over the condition of schoolchildren. In his Hindi post, he wrote, “Such a Chief Minister and Prime Minister should feel ashamed for nurturing the country’s future in such a pitiable condition.”
“Ever since I saw this video of kids being served mid-day meals on paper, my heart is broken,” Gandhi wrote, adding, “After more than 20 years of BJP rule, they have even stolen the children’s plates. Their ‘development’ is an illusion—the real secret of their power lies in ‘vyavastha’ (manipulation).”
“These are the same innocent children whose dreams carry the future of the nation, yet they are not even given a plate of dignity,” he lamented.
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