With funds allocated for cooking costs under the mid-day meal scheme remaining pending for months, school meal workers in the district have alleged that several institutions are no longer providing LPG cylinders, forcing them to resort to traditional wood fires to prepare food for students.
Even if some schools have LPG cylinders, they deny providing them for preparing meals as the cooking cost has not been released to the schools since May,” Kumari said. They are trying to cut expenses wherever possible. Meanwhile, education department officials maintained that the disbursement process has already been initiated. Deputy district education officer (elementary) Manoj Kumar stated that the necessary funds have been successfully transferred to the respective blocks.
This latest administrative crisis compounds existing challenges for the mid-day meal scheme, which recently faced disruptions when workers staged a state-wide strike on September 8 to press for their long-pending demands, leaving school managements scrambling to ensure meals for children. She said ₹ 1,000 from the ₹ 3,000 monthly honorarium due to workers for July remains uncleared, while cooking costs have not reached schools since May. Because they do not have cooking costs, “School heads also feel helpless.
Mid-Day Meal Workers’ Union district president Parveen Kumari said financial strain is severely impacting both workers and school administrations. The persistent shortage of funds has severely disrupted regular arrangements for preparing hygienic meals, forcing workers to rely on firewood despite the safety and health hazards involved in school environments, according to union representatives.
