Mid-Day Meal Scheme runs into rough water Funds withheld, Headmasters land in tight spot
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 23 2017: Headmasters of many schools are now caught in a tight spot as the Government has not been releasing funds for its flagship programme of Mid-Day Meal for the last eight months .

Contrary to the general expectation that there would be no paucity of fund as BJP is in power both at the Centre and the State, the State Government has not been releasing Rs 46.37 crore sanctioned by the Central Government for implementation of Mid-Day Meal scheme in the State .

Driven by an apprehension that stringent actions might be initiated by the new BJP-led Government if mid-day meal was not provided even though necessary fund was not released, Headmasters have been providing mid-day meal to students after buying edible items on credit for the past eight months .

Officials who inspected Mid-Day Meal scheme implementation are also aware that school authorities buy dal and other edible items from nearby grocery shops on credit, sources informed .

The Central Government has already sanctioned Rs 46.37 crore in two phases and the same amount had been deposited with the State Government's Finance Department.

But the State Government has not been releasing a single rupee from January this year till date .

Given this situation, school Headmasters may stop providing mid-day meal on credit and demand release of pending funds so that they clear debts incurred during the past eight months .

With the Finance Department not releasing any fund for Mid-Day Meal scheme, Headmasters of some schools which have as many as 700 students each are facing a very tricky situation.

Even though School Education Department has made repeated proposals to release funds for Mid-Day Meal scheme, there is no sign of Finance Department releasing the pending funds at the moment .

As such, many quarters have raised strong suspicion whether the Finance Department had utilised the amount of Rs 46.37 crore sanctioned by the Centre for Mid-Day Meal scheme for other purposes .

During the previous Government, there was a corpus fund of around Rs 10 crore so that Headmasters did not have to buy edible items on credit even if funds were not released in time.

Now there is no money in the corpus fund .

As per the guidelines of the Mid-Day Meal scheme, if students are not provided mid-day meal, its monetary value should be reimbursed to the students .

At present, each Primary level student is given 100 gm of rice and dish worth Rs 4.11 in a day while an Upper Primary level student is given 150 gm of rice and dish worth Rs 6.12 in a day, added the source.

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