The residential schools of the Minority Welfare Department in Chitradurga are all set to dispose of 33,081 kg of rotten food items. The local officers of the department have been instructed to dump the items in deep pits and cover them.
The items include 12,043 kg of rice, 17,420 kg of wheat, and 380 kg of edible oil, besides packets of tea powder, biscuits, groundnut, salt, jaggery, and dry fruits. Many packed items have crossed the expiry date.
Chitradurga Deputy Commissioner Kavitha S. Mannikeri, on March 3, instructed the officers and the Minorities Welfare Department to dispose of the stock so that neither animals nor birds get access it. The whole process has to be videographed.
These items were supplied to the residential schools located at Chitradurga, Hiriyur, Hosadurga, and Challakere taluks last year. As the educational institutes had remained closed on account of the pandemic since March 2020, the items were not used. The hostels do not have the facility for safe storage of food items for long.
G. Rekha, district officer of the Minority Welfare Department, told The Hindu that the items were supplied for eight months in advance last year. As the schools were closed because of COVID-19, the department instructed the hostels to sell foodgrains to the district administration, which was distributing them to people affected by the pandemic.
“The then Deputy Commissioner, however, said there were no funds for purchase. Hence, the stock remained in the hostels and now we cannot use them for cooking. As per the instructions from the department heads, now we are preparing to dump them in pits in the wasteland,” she said.
The district administration had initially considered supplying the rotten food items for goshalas through the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services. However, the veterinarians felt the rotten foodgrains would affect the health of the cattle.
Ms. Mannikeri told The Hindu that the food items were infested with worms and could not be used for cooking. “The rotten items are not good even for cattle. Hence, we have decided to dispose of them in deep pits,” she said.
During the pandemic, the officer said, the then Deputy Commissioner had utilised the foodgrains supplied by donors for free distribution among the affected people, instead of purchasing from the hostels.
