Schools should monitor tiffins: Congress corporator

Mumbai: If Parminder Bhamra, a Congress corporator from Malad, has his way, schools will check students’ tiffin boxes for junk food and the sale of such eatables will be prohibited within a 100-metre radius of the school premises.

Mr Bhamra has put a notice of motion stating the same and the issue will be discussed in the next House meeting.

The corporator claims that students are being fed unhealthy meals, which includes street food and packaged and processed food. “Look what the kids are eating… We have kids who suffer from so many diseases. Children wear spectacles at young age. The right food will prevent such cases,” said Mr Bhamra.

According to Mr Bhamra, other corporators are for his proposal and it will easily sail through. “The students eat Chinese bhel, which is laced with chemicals. We cannot let this happen; hence, the suggestion is that, like tobacco products, junk food items aren’t sold within a 100-metre radius of schools,” Mr Bhamra.

If junk food is discovered, the parents of the errant students — according to the proposal — will be told to pack only healthy food, but parents claim that they do not mind packing healthy lunches, but asked who will see to it that children consume the food. S. Ansari’s son studies in junior KG, and she fears her son at may not eat his lunch if it doesn’t include chips and other products. “I will pack only healthy food, provided the teachers see to it that the children finish their tiffin completely and don’t remain hungry,” she said.

Many schools in the city do not allow kids to carry junk food in their tiffin. “My daughter’s school allows fast food only on Fridays,” said a parent from western suburbs.

According to Mr Bhamra, healthy food comprises ghee and rotis. Earlier, the corporator had proposed that hospitals be cleaned using cow urine, a routine he follows at home.

Praising the initiative, Jinal Patel, a teacher of Janaki Devi Public School, Andheri (west) said, “We have already stopped junk food in our school. I suggest that parents pack healthy food in such a manner that their child feels it is junk food. If the child likes frankies, for instance, the parents need to wrap vegetables in wheat rotis. Parents will have to adopt variety”.