On cam: Medical college canteen staff cleaning potatoes with feet in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: The authorities of Gmers Medical College and Civil Hospital, Sola, have issued a show-cause notice to the canteen management for termination of contract after a video went viral on Wednesday showing a canteen employee crushing potatoes with his feet.However, the contractor has claimed it was an old video, and the video was of mud being removed from sub-standard potatoes before being fed to cows.The college authorities have also begun an inquiry against the contractor and asked the contractor to vacate the premises within three days, said Dr Nitin Vora, the dean of Sola Medical college “We have issued show-cause notice to the contractor and asked for the clarification in next three days. Also an inquiry will be conducted by a three-member panel,” Dr Vora said.He said that no student has in the past complained of the quality of the food. Mainly first-year students eat in the canteen. In the past, the contractor demanded that the college should make it compulsory for all students to eat in the canteen, but the college had refused and said they cannot force any student to do so, and that he should improve his quality of food.The contractor, Praful Suvala, who claims to be managing the canteen with one Chandrakanth claimed that the concerned video had been circulated in a move to defame him. “Some students in the institute are against us and hence raw potatoes which were being cleaned were projected as boiled potatoes. We are in the business for seven years and no untoward incident has been reported,” he claimed.A first-year student claimed that the quality of the food was pathetic and since he has got himself registered he would continue till the present contract. The food sometimes stinks, and often stale, he said.Another student claimed that he has already contacted a tiffin service to deliver tiffin as he didn’t like the taste or quality of the canteen food. “The contractor used too much oil and if we complained he did not listen,” said the student.Similarly, a third-year student too claimed the food quality was not good. “Many a time I left a meal mid-way due to poor quality. If we complained he (the contractor) did not bother to listen,” he said.