Take steps to improve meal scheme coverage, state told

Vikas Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 16

Claiming that the coverage of children in primary and upper primary government schools in nine districts under the Midday Meal Scheme is below average, the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has directed the state to take necessary steps for improving the same.

The Central ministry observed that 78 per cent children had been covered in primary and 79 per cent in upper primary schools in J&K.

The nine districts, including six in Kashmir and three in Jammu province, with low coverage are Shopian (49 per cent), Ganderbal (52 per cent), Udhampur (61 per cent), Ramban (65 per cent), Kupwara (66 per cent), Anantnag (66 per cent), Baramulla (69 per cent), Bandipora (71 per cent) and Kishtwar (77 per cent).

Sources said J&K had committed to covering 5,18,694 children in primary classes and 2,58,304 children in upper primary classes, but only 4,05,348 (78 per cent) children were covered in primary classes and 2,03,320 (79 per cent) in upper primary classes.

They said Rs 8,393.63 lakh were released by the HRD Ministry during 2006-07 to 2012-13 for the construction of 11,815 kitchen-cum-stores, but only 7,118 had been completed till March 31, 2019. The state has not even started the construction work for 4,697 kitchen-cum-stores.

When the Central ministry had asked about the reasons for delay in the construction of the remaining kitchen-cum-stores, officials of the state government, who were present at the meeting of the Programme Approval Board for the Midday Meal Scheme to consider the annual work plan and Budget 2019-20 for J&K, had informed that the work could not be started due to administrative reasons.

The officials present in the meeting included Anuradha Gupta, Director, Directorate of School Education, Jammu; Arun Manhas, School Education Department; Sajad Ahmad Khan, Assistant State Coordinator and Jasbir Singh.

The HRD Ministry has advised the state to ensure the completion of the work on the remaining kitchen-cum-stores by September 30 this year or surrender the funds pertaining to those schools where the construction was not possible.

Meanwhile, the state is also lagging behind in terms of the procurement of units of new kitchen devices. A Central assistance of Rs 1,142.16 lakh was released from 2006-07 to 2014-15 towards the procurement of 22,843 units of new kitchen devices, but only 21,532 units have been procured by the state government so far. The procurement of 1,311 units of new kitchen devices is yet to be completed.

The HRD Ministry also released Rs 39 lakh in 2014-15 for the replacement of 780 units of old kitchen devices, but even that process is yet to be completed.

Central initiative

The Midday Meal Scheme was launched in schools of J&K in 2004 with an objective of enhancing enrolment, retention and attention besides improving nutritional status among children.