Unhygienic hostel food: First head rolls

DNA’s hygiene-for-kitchens campaign has forced educational authorities to take food safety very seriously.

Going one step ahead, the University of Mumbai has fired the warden of the KBP boys’ hostel, Kalina. Dr Manohar Mane was dismissed on Friday due to a surge of student grievances regarding unhygienic and low-quality food being served at the mess.

A professor in the sports department, Dr Mane was appointed as warden of the hostel less than a year ago. Two years remained in his tenure. Mridul Nile, director, students’ welfare, and member of the canteen committee, visited the hostel last week.

She said, “The mess was found to be in a mess, and this was communicated to the warden (Dr Manohar Mane). Immediate corrective actions were expected.”

Acting on a DNA report about messes at varsity messes, the varsity sent a four-member canteen committee, comprising heads of hospitality institutes, to the Kalina campus last Thursday.

Since this was the first visit by any committee to the mess, students poured their hearts out to them. Afterward, the committee reprimanded the mess manager, and asked him to improve the situation immediately.

New warden Prof Rohit Ratilal, Head of the Gujarati Department, who took charge of the KBP hostel on Friday, told DNA, “I am aware that students are agitated over poor-quality food. I promise to improve the things within a week.” The hostel has nearly a hundred residents.

The committee is yet to visit the remaining two messes and three canteens of the Kalina campus. Varsity sources said, “This is an ultimatum for other wardens to pull up their socks immediately.”