Kerala Police Academy takes beef off trainees' menu, says there is no ban

If you think Kerala and beef cannot be separated, in a turn of events, Kerala police have removed beef from the menu in the canteens at its training camps across the state.

In a circular on February 15, Kerala Police Academy officials said beef would stay away from the menu at designated canteens where trainees have food.

The menu now has chicken supplied from the academy poultry farm. A statement issued by the police department read, “As per the decision of the Mess Committee which consists of trainees’ representatives and police officers, they were instructed to prepare healthy meals with food available in their respective areas.”

“The aim is to ensure that the trainees get the energy they need through diet,” ANI quoted the department as saying.

BJP leader and Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, said, “The Left and CPI(M) have been taking up many issues, not on the merit of the issue but on the basis of the political benefit that they will get.”

He further added, “They were posing as people who wanted that all type of food should be served to everyone and there should be no restriction on that. Now they’ve themselves restricted, it shows that their opposition to some food was on the basis of political considerations and not on other aspects.”

Similarly, reports said that red meat was served at the canteen a day before Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan paid a visit to the training academy for the passing out parade of new recruits.

Meanwhile, ADGP (Training) B Sandhya said that beef has not been banned at any police camp. “I will inquire about it. Government dieticians prepare the meal plan. But this may not be followed in its entirety. It’s mostly the food committees at the camps that take the final call,” Manorama quoted the official as saying.

However, this is not the first time beef was omitted from the Kerala Police menu. There was an ‘unofficial ban’ on the meat since 2015 in the canteen at the Kerala Police Academy in Thrissur, reportedly, under the instructions of the then academy chief, Suresh Rajpurohit, an inspector-general.

Claiming that beef is an integral part of a Keralite’s diet, Pinarayi had said that meat was a part of Kerala’s culture and that no changes will be made to that. His statement had then come as a ray of hope for the trainees, who had in the past served beef a couple of times despite the ban but had to face enquiry for their action.