Chennai: The parents who came along with their children to collect the dry rations including eggs as part of the mid-day meal scheme in Krishnarayapuram of Karur district were shocked after they found a rotten egg with worms among the eggs distributed in a panchayat union school.
According to a report on ABP Nadu, the parents immediately took a video of the rotten egg and circulated it on social media. Following this, activists in the district demanded the government to check the standard of the eggs distributed as part of the mid-day meal scheme and to take action against the person who was awarded the tender to provide eggs due to his negligence in giving substandard products to children.
Based on the information, the district Collector T Prabhu Shankar visited the government school and assessed the issue. The Collector then suspended the mid-day meal coordinator Jayanthi.
He also demanded to interrogate the officials who were responsible for the supply and distribution of the eggs.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu is a pioneer in the nutritious mid-day meal scheme which currently benefits lakhs of students. The scheme was launched by former TN CM MG Ramchandran in Tiruchy in August 1982.
Tamil Nadu still reports a high number of acute malnutrition of up to 8% among the children under 5 years of age, as per the National Family Health Survey 4 (NFHS) released in 2017. However, a report on The Hindu quoted the Unicef chief of Tamil Nadu as saying that the data is inadequate and needs detailed study.
(With inputs from ABP Nadu — It is a Tamil platform of ABP News. For more news, commentary and latest happenings from Tamil Nadu, follow https://tamil.abplive.com/)