Implementation of the midday meal (MDM) scheme in the State is badly-affected due to corruption and administrative failure,” observed social activists and intellectuals attending a State-level consultation on MDM organised by the Odisha Human Rights Protection Foundation (OHRPF) here on Wednesday. Discussing on the topic of ‘Implementation of MDM in School for the Best Interest of the Child’, the activists said the decrease in cooking cost, irregular sanction of money for MDM, lack of proper training and incentives to cooks and helpers, lack of kitchen and corruption in the official level have created obstacles for success of the MDM programme.
They said the programme has become a disaster. Every day, there are reports of mismanagement, low quality of food, insects and scorpion in dalma, cockroach and lizard in rice and rotten eggs. Though the Government has issued a number of circulars and protocols for improvement in the implementation, it has not brought any changes in the scenario, the activists said.
“If the Government doesn’t solve the problems in implementation of the scheme, we will stage a dharna in front of the State Assembly and also file a PIl in the High Court to streamline the system,” said OHRPF managing trustee Pradipta Nayak.
Among others, Dr Debi Prasanna Patnaik, Arabinda Behera, Pachika Mahasangha State president Radharaman Sarangi, Primary Teachers’ Federation State secretary Abdul Khalique, RTI activist Pradip Pradhan and lN Nanda from the Unicef were present.