Mid-day meal rice theft at Gitaldaha High School

Cooch Behar: The theft of rice allocated for the mid-day meal scheme for Gitaldaha High School of Dinhata has come to light. The incident was brought to public notice last Wednesday when Rupak Chakraborty, a teacher of the school, took to the social media alleging that two teachers from the same school were involved in the theft. About 25 quintals of rice in 50 sacks is reported stolen.

It has been learned that on September 7, the cooks responsible for preparing the mid-day meal discovered that the school storeroom was unlocked. Approximately 50 sacks, equivalent to 25 quintals of rice, were reported stolen.

Rajib Hossain Sarkar, teacher in-charge of the school’s mid-day meal programme, stated: “The school was closed on September 4 and the incident came to our attention on September 7, after the school reopened. After conducting a thorough check of the warehouse and comparing the number of rice bags with the mid-day meal register, we found that 50 bags of rice missing. The incident was immediately reported to the headmaster.”

Headmaster Malay Kumar Das mentioned that Rajib Sarkar had submitted a written complaint about the theft. Accordingly, he filed a formal complaint at the Dinhata Police Station on September 8. Mustafa Khandkar, president of the school management committee, stated that he had received a complaint regarding the theft and was currently conducting an investigation.