Last Update: January 16, 2023, 15:17 IST
Mid-day meal is the second centrally sponsored scheme after Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
According to an estimate for a school with 100 students, the average daily cost of running that scheme is Rs 595, which includes cooking ingredients, spices, fuel and payment for cooking.
At a time when the Union Ministry of Education has decided to send an inspection team to West Bengal to review the implementation of the mid-day meal scheme in the state, the Trinamool Congress has counter-questioned the central fund allocation per student. Enough to provide nutritious food under the scheme.
The state government has estimated the per student cost for mid-day meal for a school with an average of 100 students.
According to an estimate for a school with 100 students, the average daily cost of running that scheme is Rs 595, which includes cooking ingredients, spices, fuel and payment for cooking. However, the average daily allocation under the scheme for such a school with 100 students is Rs 545. We cannot expect teachers or headmasters to pay the extra amount from their own pockets,” said an official of the state education department.
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He said that on an average each student is given 50 grams of rice, eight grams of pulses and 100 grams of vegetables in the meal. “Now add the cost of spices, fuel which is mainly LPG and payment to the cook. There is often a demand for the inclusion of a protein food such as eggs or fish. With this meager allocation when it is difficult to meet the minimum nutrition, adding more nutrition is out of question,” he said.
According to senior Trinamool Congress MLA Tapas Roy, the decision to send central field inspection teams without increasing the fund allocation under the mid-day meal scheme is motivated by narrow political motives. “First the central government should send such inspection teams to BJP-ruled states instead of isolating West Bengal,” Roy said.
BJP’s state spokesperson in West Bengal Samik Bhattacharya has claimed that Trinamool Congress leaders are trying to defend. “Agreed that there is a need to increase the allocation of funds to provide nutritious food to the students under the scheme. But how can the leaders of the ruling party justify the recent developments of the recovery of lizards, cockroaches from the food,” Bhattacharya questioned.
The mid-day meal scheme is the second centrally sponsored scheme after the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), whose implementation in West Bengal has come under the scrutiny of the central government.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)