Mrunal Manmay Dash

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on Tuesday issued a letter to all the ministers of the State to make surprise visits and check quality of food served to children at schools, orphanages and have lunch with the students and inmates during inspection.

Patnaik has advised his ministers to have mid day meals in the respective Aahar centres, schools, orphanages, government rehabilitation institutions for divyangs of the districts they visit time to time for their official programmes.

The main aim of the move is to check the quality of food being served to children apart from getting first hand information about the grievances and problems of the concerned institutions. It would subsequently make way for increase in the quality of management in those institutions, the CMO's letter stated.

The letter further directs the ministers to keep their visit to the schools and other institutes a secret. No more than 3 to 4 persons should accompany the minister in his visit, it said.

Their visit to those institutes and schools should be included in their monthly report in which the ministers can suggest reformative actions for further improving the system, the letter mentioned.

It may be noted that several incidents of alleged irregularities to health hazards due to alleged negligence and substandard food in the mid day meals in schools and other institutions have been reported from time to time.

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