Rat droppings in wheat flour, expired salt, tobacco packets, and a foul stench of rot: that is what Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials found during a surprise inspection at a Narela kitchen supplying mid-day meals to over 20,000 schoolchildren.

The kitchen, run by the Dalit Manav Utthan Sansthan (DMUS), had been flagged for similar violations in 2023 as well, when the then deputy director of education recommended its blacklisting. However, no action was taken, and the NGO continued to feed thousands of children across MCD schools. The MCD has formed an enquiry committee to probe the workings of the kitchen and submit a report in seven working days.

Amit Kharkhari, vice chairman of the MCD Education committee, who conducted the inspection on Tuesday, told this newspaper, “We received complaints about kitchen, following which I went for a surprise inspection. This kitchen caters to over 20,000 schoolchildren in MCD schools and Anganwadi centres.” This kitchen has two other branches in other zones as well, which we are yet to be inspected by the MCD.

Kharkhari was disappointed with the hygiene condition in the kitchen. “It was shocking to see gutka packets lying in the middle of the kitchen where food was prepared, and then there were rat droppings all over,” he said. “We will take further action in this matter after receiving the committee’s report,” he further said.

Currently, there are 15 kitchens in Delhi which serve mid-day meals in MCD schools and Anganwadi centres.

In 2023, the Department of Women and Child Development had issued an order stating that the DMUS had been delivering inadequate supplies of weaning food to Anganwadi centres and was leaving vulnerable sections, like pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children, deprived of supplementary nutrition.

In the same year, the department had again flagged the performance of the organisation and issued a show-cause notice, saying that the performance of the DMUS had been non-satisfactory and it had not met the expected standards in providing adequate and timely supply of supplementary nutrition. The NGO was asked to explain the reasons as to why punitive action should not be taken against it.

Reacting to these notices, Kharkhari asked, “I do not understand why action was not taken against this NGO then after these notices were served on it. How was this NGO saved and allowed to continue serving mid-day meals in the schools?”