Hygiene for Kitchens: Mumbai University hostels making a ‘mess’ of health

Close to 1,500 students stay at the seven hostels — five at the Kalina campus and two at Churchgate — of the University of Mumbai. Most have the same grouse: subsidised food at the mess eats into quality.

Ask students of the Anna Bhau Sathe Bhawan Hostel on the Kalina campus. Harsh Bhatt said, “We haul up the manager over food quality every 15 days. They stick to high standards of food quality and hygiene for a few days. Then, they relapse. We pay Rs2,200-Rs2,400 each month, but even idli is inedible.”

The hostel has about 100 girls and boys.

Many of the boys alleged that despite several complaints to the warden, no action has been taken.

Ditto the grievance at the Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil (KBP) Boys’ Hostel on the same campus. They, however, blamed it on the need to strike a balance with cost-effectiveness. “We have peeped into the kitchen and seen that the floor where the utensils are stacked is very dirty. The kitchen walls have developed many cracks. We know that the food we get is not hygienic, but where will we get masala rice for Rs16 and a non-veg thaali for Rs30?”

“When the mess staff go on leave, we get unpalatable chapaatis from outside. We don’t know where they’re got from and what standards of hygiene are maintained during their preparation,” they added.

KBP hostel mess manager Jaya Shetty bristled. “We try our best. But how can we give good food at such cheap rates? We serve four chapaatis, dal, rice and vegetable at just Rs19. To ensure quality, the price needs to be hiked.”

Warden of the KBP Hostel Manohar Mane too echoed Shetty. Although he denied that the quality of food was being compromised with or that the hostel kitchen is a breeding place for diseases, he refused to grant DNA permission to check out the kitchen.

“Students have never complained about the quality,” he insisted. “But the contractor finds it difficult to run the canteen because of the low prices of food.”

But students of the Karve Girls’ Hostel, also on the Kalina campus, differed with most peers: they are satisfied with the food.
Mrunal Mahale, who lives off campus but often heads to the hostel mess to eat, said, “Besides being of good quality, the food is within our budget.”

When the prices of food at both the girls and boy’s hostels are the same, how can the quality differ? Mane explained, “Girls eat much less than boys. A thaali at the girl’s hostel costs the contractor less than that in the boys’ hostel.”

Dr Rajpal Hande, director of Board of College and University Development, Mumbai University, was unavailable for comments.