The funds allocated for mid-day meal scheme, a Centrally-sponsored programme, to provide nutritional support to poor children attending school have not been fully utilised.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, in its report for the year ended March 2015, said the performance audit of the implementation of the scheme in the State covering the period 2010-15 (four years in combined State and one year in AP) said there was no proper approach to assess the actual ground level requirement.
It noted that the unutilised funds ranged from Rs.239.83 crore in 2012-13 to Rs.402.32 crore in 2013-14. Unutilised funds under the various components of the scheme ranged from 13-73 per cent.
The government declared 123 mandals as drought-hit in 2013-14 and 460 mandals in 2011-12. One of the key objectives of the scheme is to provide nutritional support to children in drought-affected areas during summer vacation.
The CAG report said that a test-check revealed that mid-day meal was not provided to children during summer vacation in the drought-affected areas. With no reliable data, the State government obtained financial assistance for construction of over 31,000 schools while the actual requirement is in 29,276 schools under Phase I itself. The government obtained sanction for another 13,103 schools under Phase II, it said.
The average number of students who availed themselves of mid-day meal was also excessively projected and this resulted in excess allotment of 3,825 tonnes of rice at a cost of Rs.2.18 crore during 2010-15 in the four districts that were checked.
The School Education Department paid Rs.57 crore during 2010-14 towards cost of food grains to the FCI but these quantities were not received by the department, exposing absence of control mechanism. As a result, the stocks got accumulated with the lifting agency.
No mandatory buffer stocks of food grains for a month were stored in 96 out of 120 schools that were checked. It only indicated poor management of food grains supply system, it noted.
Funds allocated under the scheme have not been fully utilised
