UP: Villagers back scribe in salt-roti expose

MIRZAPUR: It was a particularly rough day in August inside the kitchen of the government primary school at Mirzapur's Siyur village. Shelves were empty and supplies had run dry. As time for recess drew near and the eager shuffling of feet was heard in the corridors, Rukmani Devi, the cook, went to acting headmaster Murari Singh. "I told him that we had no vegetables, all we had was chapatis. He snapped at me. 'Jo hai ussi mein kaam chalao' (Make do with whatever you've got)." She returned and proceeded to give students their midday meal: roti and salt.
The incident would have gone unnoticed, except for Pawan Jaiswal, a local scribe who shot a video of kids being fed the meagre diet. After the video taken on August 22 grabbed headlines, the acting headmaster was suspended. But Jaiswal was also booked for criminal conspiracy and cheating along with Rajkumar Pal, a representative of the village head who had alerted the reporter about alleged wrongdoings in the scheme.
When TOI visited the village, there was anger among residents, most of whom questioned charges against the duo for "bringing out the truth".
Several parents and students said that using minimal rations to save costs was the norm in the school which has 97 students. A student, Kajal, said they had been given salt with chapati and salt with rice at least twice in the past few months. Sangeeta Devi, mother of three kids in the school, added, "My children often complained about the food. I raised the issue with school authorities, but no one paid heed."
Rukmani admitted that they were often forced to dilute milk with water. "We seldom had supplies. We were given 2.5kg of potatoes and 250gm of oil for a week. Sometimes students only got half a roti each," she said. On any given day there are close to 50 kids in school.
The fallout has been heaven-sent for the school though. Now fresh vegetables have been stocked in the kitchen. The chulha had been replaced with an LPG cylinder and stove. New toilets are being constructed and the school - which had remained without electricity for several years - finally has a new power connection. Amid scrutiny, schools in the vicinity have also made improvement in the meals they serve. Mirzapur divisional commissioner AnandKumar Singh told TOI that the midday meal program is being investigated and action will be taken in case of any violation.