Tamil Nadu’s Social Justice Department has added dosa to the weekly dinner menu at its student hostels, but the meal is reportedly not being served in several facilities because the required tawas have not yet been supplied. Hostel cooks said they have been substituting idli and other foods instead.
The department operates student hostels across Tamil Nadu and provides residents with three free meals a day. A revised food menu issued last month included dosa for dinner on three days a week — Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday.
However, cooks at the hostels said the facilities did not have the dosa tawas needed to prepare the newly listed meal. They said the menu was introduced before the utensils and cooking equipment required for its implementation had reached the hostels.
As a result, students are being served alternatives, including idli, instead of dosa on the designated days. The cooks said the problem could have been avoided if the government had supplied the necessary vessels and equipment before issuing the revised menu.
The issue highlights an administrative gap between changing a public food-service schedule and ensuring that kitchens have the basic equipment needed to deliver it. In government-run hostels, the menu is not only a dietary instruction but also an operational requirement involving procurement, distribution and kitchen readiness across multiple locations.
Officials from the department acknowledged that dosa and some other items were added to the new menu following requests from students. They said the department would provide tawas shortly and that the process of inviting a tender for their procurement would begin soon.
The department has not specified how many hostels are currently without the equipment, how many students are affected or when the tawas will be delivered to each facility. Until the procurement process is completed and the equipment reaches the hostels, the revised dosa menu remains only partially implemented, according to the report.
