Ranchi, July 17: Taste midday meal everyday, record findings on the chakhni panji, and then feed children. Had this norm been followed, yesterday’s midday meal tragedy in Bihar could have been averted.

The Sarva Siksha Abhiyan manual has stated that every school should have a chakhni panji (tasting register) for the midday meal. Shocked by the Bihar tragedy, the Jharkhand panchayti raj department decided to send fresh reminders to mukhiyas — the state has some 4,400 mukhiyas — to ask for the chakhni panji when they go on primary school inspections.

In Ranchi, state human resource development department principal secretary D.K. Tiwari has directed deputy commissioners, district superintendents of education and other officials to regularly conduct surprise visits to midday meal centres. “Similar directions were given earlier. Today, we issued fresh letters. Though no midday meal death has been reported in Jharkhand, there were few instances when children did face problems,” Tiwari said.

But problems on the ground can’t be wished away through letters. “Meals are cooked in open spaces or inside dilapidated structures. Lizards or snakes can hide inside raw food or drop in utensils while cooking is on. Schools use contaminated cooking water from deep wells and hand pumps,” said a primary school teacher in Chanho block, Ranchi.

This is where the role of mukhiyas comes in. “Yesterday’s Bihar tragedy forced us to simplify directions to enable rural leaders to actively work for the community. We will release a notification reminding mukhiyas to monitor schools, including midday meals,” said deputy director of panchayati raj department Pradeep Kindo.

During the President’s rule, nine departments delegated powers to the elected rural representatives, but mukhiyas and others at the grassroots level still don’t know the specifics of their roles and responsibilities.

As a result, though the HRD department in February delegated the power to monitor primary education to elected representatives and panchayati raj notified the same (notification No. 273), elected rural leaders are mostly clueless.

“Now, more than ever, elected representatives must play a crucial role in school management committees,” Kindo said. “With such high volumes of food, checks have to be done at the village level. Many mukhiyas are unaware of the provision that enables them to check chakhni panjis in schools,” he added.