The Punjab Government has increased the honorarium of cooks and helpers under the mid day meal scheme by Rs 500 which has benefited 42,647 beneficiaries who have been paid the increased amount in July, Education Minister, Aruna Chaudhary said on Monday.
In a statement issued here, the Minister said previous Government had decided to increase the honorarium of cooks cum helpers of the mid day meal scheme by Rs 500 in December, 2016 but in the absence of any notification the cooks cum helpers were getting the old amount of Rs 1,200 per month.
The Minister said as per this pro-people measure promulgated on the directions of the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, the Education Department issued the notification in this regard. Chaudhary said this increase would be implemented from 1st January, 2017 onwards and the beneficiaries would get arrears.
The Minister said before this, the cooks cum helpers under the mid day meal scheme (42647 in total) used to get Rs 1200 as honorarium for 10 months which has now been increased to Rs 1700.
Chaudhary also assured that the arrears would be released soon. She said with this decision, additional per month budgetary provisions to the tune of Rs 2.13 crore would be provided.