Congress Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa on Thursday, in a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, alleged that despite the Supreme Court directive urging States to continue with the mid-day meal scheme during the COVID-19 lockdown, State schools have not provided ration to 13 lakh students since April 15, 2020.
Mr. Bajwa said initially foodgrain was delivered on to the doorsteps of the students for 24 days (March 23 to April 15), but after that no distribution has been done and no instructions have been given to the schools in this regard. He demanded that the Punjab government resume the mid-day meal scheme in schools immediately.
However, School Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla in a statement said: “Most nutritious mid-day meal is being continuously provided to as many as 15.79 lakh students of government schools across Punjab.”
Teachers role lauded
He added that “though the efforts have been hampered due to spread of COVID-19, the commitment and zeal of teachers have made it possible to tackle the situation”.
Mr. Singla said that despite facing many odds due to the unprecedented pandemic, the teachers have been doing a commendable job in taking online classes, distributing books apart from foodgrains at the doorstep of every eligible student.
The Minister said that 8,262.23 metric tonnes (MT) of foodgrains have been sent to the schools for delivery to students for the first financial quarter of academic session 2020-21.
He added that for the second quarter (July 20-September 20), allocation of 11,974 MT have also been approved.
Mr. Singla said: “Amount of ₹37.26 crore as cooking cost have already been sanctioned by the State government, which has to be transferred to the accounts of beneficiary students as per the guidelines laid by the Union government. As some students did not have any operative bank account, around ₹14 crore is lying with the respective schools.”
COMMents
SHARE