Mid Day Meal project plunges into 5 cr due
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, November 09, 2013: With the State Government not releasing fund sanctioned by the Government of India for its flagship programme Mid Day Meal scheme, more than Rs five crore remains due which otherwise should be given to schools where the scheme is implemented.

According to an official source in Education (S) Department, the Finance Department has not released any fund for the current financial year except for the amount needed for 11 days.

With the Finance Department not releasing any money, schools have been paying bills for purchasing vegetables and other items served to students together with rice provided under the Mid Day Meal scheme.

As the students cannot be served only rice, school authorities have been compelled to buy vegetables and other items needed for preparing different dishes at their expense.

Rice given to schools under the scheme are supplied by FCI.

For rice supplied for the first and second quarters of the current year, the State Government has not paid any bill.

Now the Government owes more than Rs one crore to FCI.

It is likely that FCI may stop supplying rice for the third quarter.

For the current financial year, the Government of India released Rs 6.68 crore in April and another Rs 7 crore in July.

But all these amounts are being held back by the State Finance Department.

The amounts sanctioned by the Government of India in April and July are meant to meet the expenses of Mid Day Meal scheme up to the month of December.

With the Finance Department holding back the fund sanctioned by the Government for the past many months, the situation has aggravated to such a grim level that school authorities are no longer in a position to purchase vegetables and other items from their own money, informed the official.

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