In a move that would put more stress on the already strained budget available for Mid Day Meal (MDM) scheme in the Government schools, the HRD Ministry has decided to discontinue the fund allocation for non subsidised cooking gas cylinders. The order would affect 5,088 Government Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Uttarakhand where the MDM is cooked on lPG.
The HRD Ministry in an order dated August 7 stated that reimbursement for the non subsidised gas cylinders would be stopped. Till now the Union Government and the State Government used to bear the cost of non-subsidised gas cylinders in the ratio of 75:25. Every school has a School Management Committee (SMC) and it is provided one lPG gas connection.
The MDM is an ambitious scheme of Government of India to provide nutritious food to the students of the Government schools. It is pertinent to mention here that the schools are supposed to provide MDM at the rate of Rs3.76 per day per child in Primary Schools (PS) and Rs 5.64 in Upper Primary Schools (UPS). The schools in Uttarakhand are provided rice from the Government but they had to manage other food
items on their own from the budget provided.
The increasing prices of pulses, cooking oil, spices and vegetables have made it impossible for the teachers of these schools to provide the meals to the students as per the norms on these meager rates. Now with the Government pulling its hand back from providing reimbursement for the non subsidised cooking gas cylinders, tough days are ahead for both the school heads entrusted with providing MDM and the students of these schools.
The Joint Director (JD) MDM, PK Bisht accepted said that the order would certainly affect the schools with more student strength. He said that that the matter is brought before the higher officials of department. It is learnt that the state exchequer would be loaded with an additional burden of Rs1.46 Crore per year if the State Government decides to bear the total cost of reimbursement of non subsidised cooking gas cylinders.
The teachers of primary and upper primary schools of the state are not happy with the decision. “The rate of pulses, vegetables and other edible items have risen sharply due to which it has become very difficult to provide MDM at the existing budget moreover the decision of discontinuing reimbursement of cooking gas cylinder has made things more difficult.
The State Government should hand over the responsibility of providing MDM to some independent agency”, said one of a teacher posted in a government primary school posted in Raipur block of Dehradun.