One litre milk diluted with one bucket of water, served to 85 children in UP

In a video that has gone viral from Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra, a government school cook is seen adding one-litre of milk to a bucket of water to feed 85 children, as part of the the mid-day meal scheme.

The video allegedly was shot by a member of the gram panchayat, in one of the primary government schools in Salai Banwa primary school in Kota village of the district.

Authorities at the government school, in Chopan of the tribal district on Wednesday (November 29), said nearly 170 students study in the school and on Wednesday nearly 85 of them turned up. In the video, the cook is seen boiling the water in a large container before mixing one-litre milk in a bucket of water.

Asst Basic Shiksha Adhikari, Sonbhadra: I am being told milk was unavailable, so they were directed by authority to mix water in it, in a balanced quantity. I'm also being told that teachers had gone to get more milk but meanwhile pictures were clicked & distributed them. (27.11) https://t.co/MSAr2rnoJI pic.twitter.com/Cej4TeEala

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 29, 2019

When the incident came to the light, the district officials visited the school to check the quality and enquire about the incident.

“I am being told milk was unavailable, so they were directed by the authority to mix water in a balanced quantity. I am also being told that teachers had gone to get milk but meanwhile the video was taken,” ANI quoted Gorakhnath Patel, Assistant basic Shiksha Adhikari, Sonbhadra as saying. Further, he added, “I am investigating. Action will be taken.”

“I diluted one litre of milk with a bucket of water. We were only given a packet of milk yesterday, so that’s what I had to do,” NDTV quoted the cook, Phoolwanti, as saying.

Earlier in September, a case was registered against a scribe for shooting a video of children being served chapatis and salt in a mid-day meal in Mirzapur on August 22.

Also read: FIR filed against scribe who shot video of UP children having roti with salt

(With inputs from agencies)