The State government has been urged to review the mid-day meal scheme, as students are frequently complaining about the quality of food. Many students have been protesting, saying the food is not nutritious and sometimes contains worms. One of the main reasons for this issue is the government’s delay in clearing payment bills. This has forced meal managers to cut back on both the quality and quantity of the meals they provide. Additionally, the rising prices of essential commodities are making things harder for them. There are about 7,600 mid-day meal managers in the Karimnagar district.
Many of these managers have pending bills ranging from Rs 30,000 to Rs 1,00,000. Some organisers have even taken out loans to cover the costs of providing the meals. According to the meal administrators, it costs around Rs 15 per student to serve food according to the menu. The financial burden is even higher in schools with more students. Currently, mid-day meals are being provided to around 1,50,000 students across 2,423 schools in the district. The menu requires that students be served eggs, quality vegetables, greens, and sambar three days a week.
On Saturdays, students are supposed to receive vegetable biryani. However, the government only provides Rs 5.40 per student for classes 1 to 5, Rs 8.17 for students in classes 6 to 8, and Rs 10.67 for students in classes 9 to 10, with egg included. Due to these low amounts, organisers are forced to rely on cheaper vegetables like potatoes and tomatoes. In the past, the government had planned to offer Ragi gruel to students in the morning, but this has not been implemented due to a lack of funds. As a result, students are not receiving the nutritious meals they need.
District Education Officers (DEOs) from Karimnagar, Jagtial, Rajanna Sircilla, and Peddapalli have stated that they prepare and submit bills to the treasury regularly. The government has only sanctioned payments up to June. However, mid-day meal organisers say that these periodic payments are not enough, and they cannot continue taking on debt to provide the meals.
Burra Manjula, a mid-day meal manager from Mallapur village in Gangadhara mandal, shared her concerns with The Hans India. She mentioned that they haven’t received a salary hike for the past eight months. She also pointed out that it’s impossible to provide a proper lunch with egg for just Rs 10.67. Additionally, preparing lunch with two curries is not financially feasible. Manjula also noted that the quality of rice has decreased, with the rice now being lumpy, unlike the better-quality rice they used to receive earlier.
