Following demands from corporators, the BMC has decided to look for other options to replace the flavoured milk, which is presently being supplied to students in civic schools. The BMC is currently seeking the opinion of expert doctors and dieticians to suggest an alternative to flavoured milk, which can provide the same level of nutrition. The civic body has now appointed a committee headed by Dr Suhasini Nagda, director, medical education and major hospitals, and other prominent dieticians. Since 2007, the BMC has been supplying flavoured milk to around 4.60 lakh students in municipal schools free of cost, across the city. Ever since its launch, the flavoured milk scheme has been mired in controversy due to several cases of indigestion being reported among civic students who consumed the flavoured milk. In the last couple of years, the scheme was stopped on several occasions and continued barely for a few months. Despite this, the civic administration made a budgetary provision for the scheme in 2013-14. The civic body had made a provision of '114.32 crore for primary schools and '17.69 crore for secondary schools, to supply the flavoured milk. However, members of the education committee have demanded that the flavoured milk be replaced by other food items like chikki and biscuits. “The committee has been asked to prepare a report on nutritious quotients of various food items like chikki, biscuits and rajgira ladoos, etc. The report is ready and based on it, a decision will soon be taken on whether to continue with the flavoured milk or replace it with other food items,” said additional municipal commissioner M.M. Adtani.
