Bengal: Just rice, salt constitute midday meal in Hooghly government school

Kolkata: Midday meal comprising boiled rice and salt was served at Chinsura Balika Bani Mandir School in Hooghly district, 60 km from Kolkata. The incident has left the BJP and TMC up in arms yet again after the BJP MP Locket Chatterjee rushed to the school and accused the TMC of corruption.

State education minister Partha Chatterjee responded stating, "Corruption in mid-day meals will not be tolerated." Pictures of hundreds of schoolgirls sitting on the floor and eating rice and salt have gone viral and invited all-round condemnation.

One prominent educationist called it "daylight robbery".

"People have complained to me of corruption in the mid-day meal scheme in this school," Hooghly's BJP MP Locket Chatterjee said. She was visiting her constituency on Monday (August 19) when she apparently received a call about the lunch served at the school and rushed over.

On a blackboard on the school verandah, the mid-day meal menu was written in white chalk: "Phan Bhaat aar Noon" or "starchy rice with salt".