CHANDIGARH - Facing increasing protests from students over the quality of food in its hostels, Panjab University (PU) now plans to send the kitchen staff to a hotel management institute for a “refresher course”.

“We have decided to send the cooks to the Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management here in Sector 42 for a comprehensive skill-enhancing training. They will learn to prepare new dishes and at the same time, lessons will be given to them on how to maintain cleanliness and proper hygiene while preparing food,” Naval Kishore, dean, Students’ Welfare (DSW) of Panjab University, told IANS.

He said a meeting of representatives of hostel canteens, students and university authorities is held every month to discuss various issues, and it has been realised there is a need to upgrade the culinary skills of cooks who prepare food for hundreds of students every day.

Hostel residents have welcomed the decision of the university authorities to send the cooks for formal training and are hopeful that things would improve.

“There is a drastic need to change the menu. They have a fixed menu for all the seven days of the week and repeat it every week. I have talked to many alumni of Panjab University and found that they have been following this ritual for the last 20 years,” Hemant Kaushik, a student of sociology at the varsity, told IANS.

“Whether you like it or not, you have to eat it, as they do not prepare any other alternative dal or vegetable. Moreover, the quality of food is very sub-standard that is prepared in the most unhygienic conditions. You just take a round of the kitchen and I can bet that you cannot sit here to eat the food,” he added.

The university campus is spread over 550 acres in Sector 14 and 25 of the union territory of Chandigarh. There are seven boys’ and six girls’ hostels, having a total of around 4,000 students.

Harmanjit Singh Deol, a research scholar, said he had been staying in a university hostel for the last seven years but had not seen any change in the food menu of the hostel canteen.

“I have lived in a hostel in the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, while studying there. The cooks employed there are well-trained and passed out from premier institutions. There you can have whatever you order so we should try to learn something from such institutions,” he said.

“Despite countless assurances, the university authorities have failed to improve the food quality. It is really sad that on one side, we claim to compete among the top universities of the world but at the same time, the students have to manage with such poor food,” Mani Atwal, a law student, told IANS.

Hemant Rana, a former student of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, said: “You cannot compare the food served in Panjab University with that of JNU or Delhi University. There we have very flexible and assorted food menus but here we have no choice.”

Panjab University, one of the oldest universities of the country, was established in 1882 at Lahore and was shifted to Chandigarh in 1956.

Over 10,000 students, 70 percent of whom are girls, are enrolled in the over 60 teaching and research departments of the university.

(Alkesh Sharma can be contacted at alkesh.s@ians.in)