The last and possibly the most utilized one today is the Mess Feedback module. It is imposed on all the different mess halls in the various hostels in IIT Patna. Unlike the other two, the feedback pertaining to the mess is mainly the responsibility of the Mess Committee, constituted by the Hostel Affairs Council.

The Mess Feedback is also the latest feedback to be automated despite the long period since it has been introduced. The Mess Feedback is taken both on a register in the Mess Halls, as well as the Mess Feedback form online. Call it callousness or disdain for the mess-goers problems, this long wait was indeed a failure the Gymkhana and Admin equally share.

At the beginning of the new term, the new HAC implemented a Google Form to actively seek feedback and complaints regarding the various mess services. Ironically, despite the student secretaries setting up the feedback form, the authority lies upon the Hostel Warden to take any action. Hostel Affairs GenSec Ankit Anurag tells us, “The Mess feedback is checked by the warden. Although the Welfare Secretary is involved in this, the power is in the hands of the Warden to bring about significant change. The HAC is constantly in touch with the Warden to resolve issues with mess service. Before my term, even fines were barely imposed on the vendors, which I don’t understand why it was so. We don’t get proper quality food and it’s a big concern that requires proper timely action. We are hoping that moving on we receive this cooperation from the warden's side, only then can we expect problems to be resolved.

Besides the form, we ( Mess Committee representatives) also receive a lot of feedback on our respective mails, but we are students ourselves. We cannot stay up to date with the humongous amounts of mail that we get. We are hoping to have a volunteer team of students to look after these mails which we get from students. We are also open to incentivizing them.”

WHAT ACTION DOES THE MESS COMMITTEE TAKE?

The feedback is taken as substantial evidence and a good tipoff for the team that inspects the mess and takes necessary action. Ankit explains how this is done:

“We have a group of people who regularly check the kitchen for lack of cleanliness and the quality of raw material. In one instance, we found expired curd that was about to be served to the students. Thankfully, we were right in time to prevent this and appropriate action was taken.

If the day's food is not good enough (in terms of quality and hygiene), we go to the Warden and request them to take action. Fines or other actions need to be approved by the Hostel Warden. Applying fines was rare previously, but we (the new Mess committee) recently imposed huge fines on the vendors. One dilemma is that, if we impose too many fines, the mess vendors will downgrade the food quality to save themselves from going into loss. The previous vendors were not able to provide the menu as promised in the tender, among other quality issues. They were fired recently.”

Fines have been the norm in IITP for a long time. However, it has always been unknown to the students what exactly happens with these hefty amounts afterward, which were certainly not spent on the food meant to be served.

Ankit clarified to us: “The fines used to go to the institute account. We (HAC Mess Committee) asked the administration to set a separate account for the hostels, but the administration insisted on a separate Mess account instead of a hostel account.

Now the fines directly go to the Mess account, where they can be used for the student's welfare. Usually, we use this money to have extra menu items temporarily or on days where we get food from outside to compensate for the loss in quality.”

The new Mess Committee seems to be making progress with the mess-y situation, however, it is far from perfect. Ankit admits that the feedback system is not running as well as expected. The mess quality is still not satisfactory as one would expect.

The mess vendors have been changed and are inspected often based on student feedback, which is a hopeful sign for change. Ankit says “At the moment, the HAC does not have access to the feedback, so we look at the environment and the mood of the students on our own to search for what prompts they have this will continue until we do get access to the responses. My request to the students is to regularly give any feedback, it is the only way to ensure mess services operate well.”

This was the third and last of the three Feedback modules we covered. Head back to the main article to read more about other redressal systems we have in campus!