Assam Congress Protests Govt Move to Shift Mid-Day Meal Responsibility to NGOs

Guwahati, November 5, 2019:

Assam Youth Congress leaders and the NSUI staged a protest against the BJP Government's move to shift the responsibility of the mid-day meals in Assam to NGOs.

The Congress members have also alleged that there is rampant corription in the BJP party, and the granting of the mid-day meal scheme to NGOs is a prime example of this.

Meanwhile, the Congress party is demanding the immediate resignation of Assam Education Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya. The protest later took an ugly turn, and around a 100 protesters were reportedly detained by the police.

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Some members of the Congress, meanwhile, have alleged that they were manhandled by security personnel during the protest.

It may be mentioned here that the Assam Government landed in the soup after allotting the mid-day meal schemes to NGOs. Chaos and unrest has prevailed ever-since.

In a particularly controversial incident reported from Tinsukia district, 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.

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 If the Ghanshyam NGO’s contract is not withdrawn by the Government within a week, we resolve to intensify protests”.

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 school in Delhi contained worms, beetles, houseflies, and human hair, and was not cooked properly. Thereafter, the said NGO’s contract was withdrawn by the Delhi Government.

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