New Delhi: When Tasleem Fatima, a law student at Jamia Millia Islamia, found thick, black insects in the chole served for lunch at the hostel mess on Wednesday, she knew it was the last straw. Around her, other students were finding insects in their food too, picking through their plates to check. The discovery sparked a five-hour protest by the students of the University’s Jammu and Kashmir Girls Hostel.
It ended up with University authorities accepting their demands. But it was not the first time they had complained.
“We have complained about the mess food and contractor several times in the past. We also showed evidence in the form of photographs. Not only insects and flies, but even pieces of glass were found in the mess food,” said Fatima.
She is also a member of Jammu and Kashmir Girls Hostel mess committee. “But we were only given assurances, and no action was taken.”
After Wednesday’s lunch, the mess committee, comprising half a dozen students, went door to door in the hostel, rallying students to join the demonstration.
“We told students that it was a question of hygiene as many students were falling sick,” Fatima told ThePrint.
By night, at around 9 pm, around 60 students had gathered at the Centenary Gate of the University with their three demands. The demands included: the girls participating in the protest should not be targeted, the mess contractor should resign, and female staff should be appointed in the hostel.
The protest continued until 3 am, when the warden and vice-proctor arrived and assured the students that their demands would be met. Soon after, the mess vendor resigned.
But now, students are not being served food.
“Since the mess vendor resigned last night, there is no one operating the mess. We have not been given breakfast or lunch,” said Fatima. “They (hostel authorities) said they are arranging food from another mess, but nothing has arrived till now. Students are without food.”
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‘Eat or leave’
A PHD student at Jamia, Aankhi Sarbadhikary joined Jamia in September last year. By then, the mess committee had written applications to the University authorities regarding the quality of the hostel food.
“The protest was a result of four years of complaints against the mess contractor. Students who have been living here for three or four years have repeatedly complained about the poor quality of food,” Sarbadhikary said.
Then, she experienced it herself. Every Sunday, the mess serves biryani to students. Sarbadhikary went to the mess looking forward to her meal, only to find a fly stuck inside a piece of chicken.
“I was horrified,” she recalled. The student claimed that it is not just the pests and insects; the hostel mess cooks use the same spices to make every dish. A daal tastes as spiced as a chicken curry.
“I come from Bengal, and I was appalled to see that the spices used to prepare chicken were also used to prepare dal,” she said.
And whenever she complained about this to the warden, she was asked to leave the hostel.
“I was told that if you have so much of a problem with the food, why don’t you find yourself a PG accommodation,” Sarbadhikary told ThePrint.
For a week, students had been discussing the problems with the hostel food and their frustration over the authorities’ repeated inaction. It was Wednesday’s chole-chawal that gave their anger fresh impetus.
“We had been planning the demonstration for the past week. However, it was only last night that we finally came out and protested,” Sarbadhikary said, who was standing among the protestors.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)