Over 16 crore meals are under reporting which is a serious issue, says the report (Representational image/News18)
The Ministry of Education (MoE) had constituted a ‘Joint Review Mission’ (JRM) in January to review the implementation of the centrally sponsored scheme PM Poshan in West Bengal following complaints of irregularities.
Nearly 16 crore mid-day meals worth over Rs 100 crore were served by the local administration in West Bengal from April to September last year, a panel appointed by the ministry said. Education has been found.
The Ministry of Education (MoE) had constituted a ‘Joint Review Mission’ (JRM) in January to review the implementation of the centrally sponsored scheme PM Poshan in West Bengal following complaints of irregularities. The panel noted “serious discrepancies in the information furnished with regard to the number of meals served at various levels”.
According to the 1st and 2nd Quarterly Progress Report (QPR) submitted by the state government to the Government of India, around 140.25 crore meals were served under the PM Poshan Yojana during April to September, 2022. However, as per the QPR submitted by the State the number of meals served across the districts was around 124.22 crore. Thus, over 16 crore meals are being over-reported which is a serious issue. The cost of the material concerned works out to Rs 100 crore,” the report said.
The panel also questioned diversion of funds for the scheme to pay compensation to fire victims, wrong allocation of food grains, cooking of rice, pulses and vegetables up to 70 per cent less than the “prescribed quantity” and use of expired packets of spices . ,
The Joint Review Mission, comprising nutrition experts and officials from the Central and State Governments, reviewed the implementation of the scheme, earlier known as the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, at the State and District and School levels over a specified period of time parameter for . “The State used to claim that more than 95 per cent children availed the benefit of mid-day meal on an average basis. However, across all the schools visited, the number of children availing these meals during this period ranged between 60 and 85 per cent.
The team also reviewed the flow of funds from the state to the schools or implementing agencies, coverage of the scheme, management structure at the state, district, block levels, distribution mechanism of food grains from the state to schools, construction, procurement or distribution of kitchen-cum-stores. replacement of kitchen appliances, among others.
On 3 April, Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu tweeted that JRM had visited schools across the state in February and submitted its report without informing the state’s project director. “He has submitted his report without informing the Project Director (PD), CMDM, who was the representative of the State in the team, leave alone taking his signature on the report… This amounts to a gross violation of Centre-State relations. Another example.” Central government regularly does,” he had tweeted.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)
