Students of the Ekalavya Model Residency School under the Tribal Development Department in Pimpri Sado, Igatpuri taluka, have raised serious complaints about receiving poor-quality food over the past few days. Despite repeated complaints, no action was taken, leading to growing anger among the students.

On Thursday afternoon, when food of substandard quality was served again, the students discarded it into a pit on the hill. Reports indicate that the students have remained hungry since Thursday afternoon. Expressing their grievances, the students reached out to Lucky Jadhav, the national youth president of the Tribal Development Council. Following this, they marched with Jadhav to Mundhegaon to lock the central kitchen that supplies food to their school. However, the police intervened and turned the group back 2 km away from the kitchen.

The students, determined in their protest, gathered at the entrance of the Pimpri Sado Ashram School and declared they would continue their sit-in protest and hunger strike until a responsible officer addressed their grievances. The situation worsened as the students refused dinner brought to them and endured the freezing cold night while protesting. The police maintained vigilance to prevent any law-and-order issues.

Tribal leader Jadhav demanded strict action against the officers, contractors, and employees of the Tribal Development Department responsible for this issue. After discussions with Nashik Deputy Commissioner Sudarshan Nagare, Project Officer Arunkumar Jadhav, and Assistant Project Officer Nitant Kamble, the students were assured that their concerns would be resolved. The officers, along with Jadhav and police personnel, later dined with the students to restore trust.

Strict action promised

Tribal Development Commissioner Nayana Gunde emphasised the seriousness of the issue, stating that an investigation report would be submitted within eight days. She assured that strict action would be taken against those responsible for providing poor-quality food once the report is received.

Central kitchen's reality

On Friday, inferior food samples from the central kitchen in Mundhegaon, which caters to 18,000 students, were presented to Gunde by MLA Hiraman Khoslar. Commissioner Gunde acknowledged that such negligence amounted to jeopardising students' lives and reiterated the need for immediate and decisive action after the inquiry.