Assam Mid-Day Meal Workers Throw NGO-Prepared Food on the Streets in Protest

Tinsukia, November 4, 2019:

Tension prevails in Tinsukia district of Assam, after mid-day meal workers, who had lost their jobs following the Government's move to allot the work to NGOs, staged protests and threw NGO-supplied food on the streets.

As a mark of protest, the midday meal workers sent away vehicles trying to carry meals cooked at the NGO, Ghanshyam Sewa Samiti. They also threw away the meals on the streets that the vehicles were carrying. The protest created a situation of chaos in Tinsukia's Parbotiya and Makum.

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Apart from throwing the food on the street, the NGOs sent back the vehicles transporting the food, and raised their voices in protest against the Government's move.

One of the mid-day meal workers told the media, "We have been working selflessly for the scheme since 2005. And now, the Assam Government has given the contract to Ghanshyam NGO, which has been blacklisted by the Government. If the Ghanshyam NGO's contract is not withdrawn by the Government within a week, we resolve to intensify protests".

NGO Ghanshyam Sewa Samiti, which is supplying mid day meals in the districts of Dhemaji, Sibsagar and Tinsukia, landed in the soup after it came to light that it was 'blacklisted' by the New Delhi Government.

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It has come to light that Ghanshyam was ‘blacklisted’ by the Government of New Delhi after DDE(East) reported that Ghanshyan Sewa Samiti supplied mid-day meals in SKV Vishwas Nagar, Delhi, on 9/07/2013 which contained worms, beetles, houseflies, and human hair and was not cooked properly when inspected by the school level mid-day meal committee. Thereafter, the said NGO’s contract was withdrawn by the Delhi Government.

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