The students said the food was
sub-standard in the six messes of the institute, all of which are managed by
private caterers —Photo: M. Karunakaran
Nearly 800 students of IIT–Madras
protested outside their mess on Friday against the low quality of
food served in the messes of the institute.
The students said they had taken up
the matter with the administration on several occasions but there had been no
improvement in the quality of the food.
“Earlier, we would at least get one
banana or a slice of watermelon every day. Now, we have to pay extra for
anything nutritious — boiled eggs, all fruits, paneer and chicken. The
available food is very sub-standard,” said a student.
The situation prevails in the six
messes of the institute, all of which were managed by private caterers,
students said.
“We spend nearly Rs. 80 on food
every day. However, the food items are stocked up in a very unhygienic way. The
dishes are never cleaned properly,” another student said.
The students said they had
repeatedly written to the administration about the issue. Many students had
also staged a protest last year but no action had been taken, they said.
They said the student-managed messes
in IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Bombay served larger quantities of food of a better
quality and at comparable prices. “However, here they are under the
administration, which outsources it to caterers. It is high time the
administration listened to us,” said a student.
During the course of the protest,
the students marched up to IIT-M director Bhaskar Ramamurthi’s house. In a
discussion that lasted till midnight, the director responded to the
questions raised by the students.
A senior professor at the institute
said rising prices were one of the reasons for the dip in the quality of food,
but denied that it was in any way sub-standard.
IIT-M officials said the menu had
been fixed when the tenders were floated a couple of months ago, and it was
difficult to change it.
“We have always taken
students’ feedback and complaints seriously. We will certainly look at improving
the quality of the food,” a professor said.
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