Unpaid mid-day meal bills may affect students: NCP
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 18 May 2013 19:00 IST
The Nationalist Congress Party has exposed the negligent attitude of BJP government towards mid-day meal by not keeping the dues pending to the tune of almost Rs 1.64 crore.
NCP chief spokesperson Trajano D’Mello said such a negligent attitude may ultimately lead to disaster, with innocent children made the victims.
Based on the RTI information sought in this regard, D’Mello said 56 self-help groups of women have not been paid Rs 1.64 crore till date.
There are total 82 SHGs involved in supplying mid-day meals, out of which only 26 SHGs have been paid till date, said the NCP leader.
Due to lack of proper financial support, he said the SHGs are not cooking mid-day meals in a hygienic conditions.
He thus demanded that the PTAs be involved in monitoring the kitchens while the government supports the hygienic kitchens in order to supply nutritious food to the school children.
Based on the information he has sought, D’Mello said several complaints have been officially lodged with the Directorate of Education regarding the quality of mid-day meal.
It includes unsatisfactory cooked food items, stale food, contaminated with foreign bodies like ants, hair, wires including lizards etc and in some cases food which even a dog refused to eat.
He also observed that most of the SHGs prepare large quantity mid-day meal in small individual kitchens, thus leaving room for unhygienic conditions as well as corruption.
