Description
The correctional facility has uncovered gross irregularities in West Bengal schools' mid-day meal schedules. Rations of around Rs 16 crore of midday meals worth more than Rs 100 crore were overpriced by the local administration in West Bengal from April to September last year, according to a panel appointed by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education (MoE) had constituted the “Joint Review Mission” (JRM) in January to review the implementation of the program sponsored by the PM POSHAN center in West Bengal following complaints of wrongdoing. The panel noted "serious discrepancies in the information presented regarding the number of meals served at different levels."
“According to the first and second quarterly progress report (QPR) submitted to the Government of India by the state government, around Rs 140.25 crore was disbursed under the PM Poshan scheme from April to September 2022. However, according to the QPRs submitted by the districts to the state, the amount of meals served was around Rs 124.22 crore." Therefore, there is overreporting of more than Rs 16 crore of meals, which is a serious problem. The corresponding hardware cost amounts to Rs 100 crore,” the report says.
The panel also questioned the misappropriation of funds earmarked for the scheme to compensate fire victims, the misdistribution of food grains, the cooking of rice, dal and vegetables up to 70% less than "prescribed amounts", and the use of seasonings. expired. packages .
The joint review mission, comprised of nutrition experts and officials from the Center and state government, reviewed implementation of the program, formerly known as the Midday Meal Program, at the state, district, and school level over a specified time frame . “The state used to claim that more than 95% of children benefited from midday meals on average, however, across all schools visited, the number of children benefiting from these meals was between 60 and 85%. during the period," he said. .
The team also reviewed the flow of funds from the state to schools or implementing agencies, the coverage of the program, the management structure at the state, district, and block levels, the delivery mechanism of state food grains to schools, the construction of store kitchens, the supply or replacement of kitchens. household appliances, among others.
On April 3, Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu tweeted that the JRM, which had visited schools “all over the state” in February, had submitted its report without even informing the state project manager. "They filed their report without even notifying the Project Director (PD), the CMDM, who was the state representative on the team, let alone getting his signature on the report...it's another example of a flagrant violation of the Project Law." Central State, relations that the central government regularly maintains,” he tweeted.
