Wardens of hostels, residential schools for Scheduled Castes to post time-stamped photos of meals in Karnataka

While the initiative was initially rolled out as a pilot project in the backward districts of Bidar, Raichur and Chamarajanagar, the CM and Social Welfare Minister have directed officials to extend it to seven more districts – Bagalkot, Belagavi, Udupi, Kolar, Bengaluru Urban, Tumakuru and Mysuru – from January 26, said Pujar.

Bengaluru: As part of its measures to ensure that students at hostels and residential schools for Scheduled Castes managed by the Department of Social Welfare are well-nourished, the state government has directed wardens and the staff in the kitchens to post timestamped photographs as proof that meals are being served thrice a day to the hostel dwellers.

The 2,005 hostels and 825 residential schools under the purview of the Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society (KRIES), cumulatively house 4.4 lakh students, and the department is eager to ensure that every last one is served food on time.

Nagaraju T Pujar, officer on special duty for Social Welfare Department principal secretary Major P Manivannan, gave a PowerPoint presentation to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at the review meeting of the department convened last week. While the initiative was initially rolled out as a pilot project in the backward districts of Bidar, Raichur and Chamarajanagar, the CM and Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa have directed officials to extend it to seven more districts – Bagalkot, Belagavi, Udupi, Kolar, Bengaluru Urban, Tumakuru and Mysuru – from January 26, said Pujar.

“The scheme was launched in the three backward districts on December 24, and covered 291 hostels. Once the scheme is extended to seven more districts, it will cover 946 institutions,” Pujar told DH.

He said that the initiative was devised based on suggestions offered by Mahadevappa, who had received several complaints from civic groups about ration supplied to Social Welfare department hostels and residential schools being misused.

“During a brainstorming session, the minister suggested that the department audit the meals served at the hostels and schools periodically. This evolved into the idea of asking wardens or kitchen staff to post timestamped photographs of meals being served,” Pujar added.

Impressed with the results that the launch of the initiative have yielded in the three districts, Manivannan wrote on ‘X’ that 12 photographs would be posted – three each for every meal of the day – daily.

“For 946 hostels, it will be around 11,500 pics a day!” he wrote. The entire repository of photographs can be found online – Foodswdgok.In, he added.